What Signs Can Indicate a Hearing Problem?
If there are situations where your child is not responding to sound appropriately, this may be a sign of hearing loss. The single most important sign of hearing loss in children is the failure to develop or the delayed development of spoken language.
If children have severe or profound hearing loss, it is usually obvious that they do not respond to sound, but sometimes it is difficult to detect mild forms of hearing loss, including hearing loss in only one ear. Even a mild hearing loss can significantly impact a child’s ability to learn, impacting language and speech development. Children with mild hearing loss may struggle in school and have attention, behavioral or social problems in the classroom.
Common Warning Signs for Hearing Loss
Family member or teacher concern regarding:
- Hearing ability
- Delays or differences in speech and language development
- Lack of attention or behavioral difficulties
- Poorer than expected academic performance
- Not responding to someone talking out-of-view, particularly with minimal distractions
- Displaying a surprised look when the child’s name has been called at a normal or even fairly loud level
- Using “what?” or “huh?” frequently
- Intently watching the faces of speakers
- Difficulty understanding speech in background noise
- Sitting close to the TV set when the volume is adequate for others
- Increasing the TV or stereo/CD player volume to unreasonably loud levels
- Not responding to voices over the telephone or switching ears continually when the phone is utilized
- Not being startled by intense sounds
- Not being able to locate the source of a sound accurately
If your child displays one of the common warning signs, contact us at 469-803-5552 to schedule an appointment to test your child’s hearing.