It's important to test a baby's hearing early so any problems can be corrected before the child's development is impaired.

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I was able to watch recently as a sleeping 36-hour-old baby boy was given a hearing test. The woman audiologist, took Sean in his cradle, over to a computer, which looked just like my desktop at home, except there were a series of wires attached to this one. The lady audiologist took one of the tiny wires and gingerly placed it into the newborn boys right ear and typed something into the computer. Complicated looking multi-colored graphics were shown on the computer screen.

This high-tech procedure was developed for use at this ear research center in order to give very young children hearing tests as soon as possible to give them a head start on life. Every year 24,000 babies are born with a hearing loss and 4,000 more are born deaf. The chance for parents to help their children through life with little to no disability has been given to them by the OAE, also known as otoacoustic emissions test, which will let pediatricians and families know soon after birth whether the baby has a hearing problem or not.

Parents and doctors sometimes do not realize that there is a problem with a child's hearing until they are two or three years old. This may lead to devastating results. The child can suffer delays in language and speech. The children are delayed in speaking and they have lost out on the information about their surroundings that comes through hearing. The first two years are critical in the development of intelligence and emotions. In certain instances, an erroneous diagnosis of mental inadequacy is made for a child who has hearing loss.

Prior to the birth of OAE in 1990, the evaluation phase for each child was very expensive and complicated. One audiologist has said that the auditory brain stem response evaluations are very exact in their results. The auditory nerve is observed by electrodes attached to the infant and measure the activity of the nerve as it travels to the child's brain. These tests cost a minimum of $90 and take 30 minutes to complete, also they require the presence of a professional physician or audiologist to do the testing. The strict rules surrounding the use of this test as well as the costs per test make it impossible for every infant within the country to receive this test.

The advantages of OAE are, that it is much less costly, and a full time audiologist is not a requirement. The OAE test exposes the small hair cells in the cochlea to sound, and measures the vibration of these cells, and in this five minute test, any hearing loss will be detected. A transmitter is placed into the baby's inner ear, and the microphone is sensitive to the hair cell's vibratory responses. Once the test was done on the first ear, it was on to the other side where it was performed again. The test showed that Sean's hearing was close to perfect at birth.

A second test will be performed one week after if an infant fails the first hearing test. So soon after being born an infant can sometimes have fluids in the ear that can cause the results to show up poorly. If this test again reads negatively, the more complex auditory brain stem response test is conducted in order to locate the source of the issue. With all of this relevant information in hand, the audiologist, pediatrician, and parents meet to talk about ways to deal with the issue.

If the hearing loss is minor, hearing aids can be provided at three months of age. This approach is often all it takes to produce normal hearing. Once a baby comes to be eighteen months old, a surgeon will be able to conduct a cochlear implant, which is a surgery involving permanent rectification for their hearing conditions.

When a child is found to be deaf, there will be guidance for the parents, so that they are able to learn to use visual examples and cues while spending extended time with their baby, so that their infant can learn about the world. Generally, those babies who are treated to this kind of focus fare better in their intellectual development than others. American sign language, lip-reading, hearing aids and cued speech are all good ways to help with children who are faced with hearing problems.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Contact this website if you require information on hearing aid.If you are looking for more information on hearing screening make sure to visit their website.

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