My Baby Passed the Hearing Test but Doesn't Respond to Sound
It can be difficult to tell whether hearing aids are working in a young baby with a hearing loss. In the showtime six months, the signs that your baby tin hear are subtle.
As a parent, you no dubiousness feel concerned about your babe's development. This information will assistance you recognise your babe's responses to audio.
How can you tell when a baby hears sounds?
A baby'due south response to sound is affected by their age, stage of development and caste of hearing loss.
A lack of response doesn't necessarily mean your babe cannot hear.
Babies with normal hearing don't respond to the softest sounds that they can hear in the showtime two months of life. At this stage the baby'due south responses to audio are difficult to notice - babies might widen their eyes when they hear a sound, or stir in their sleep
Different levels of sound arouse diverse responses in babies, depending on how agile they are. Babies react to softer sounds when they are just dozing off to slumber as opposed to when awake and agile.
Some sounds will be more than interesting to your baby than others. In early life, babies are intrigued past voices, so they will answer to voice at softer levels than they would respond to other noises effectually the domicile.
Babies are also more interested in complex sounds like rattles or music than in unproblematic sounds like beeps or simple whistles. If a sound is repeated besides often, young babies lose interest and may stop responding altogether. This is chosen habituation.
Babies with significant hearing impairments may be unfamiliar with many sounds around them. It might accept some time after the hearing aid has been fitted to see clear signs of hearing.
The vocalisations of babies requite clues most what they can hear. Some babies quieten down and concentrate when their hearing aids are first turned on each twenty-four hour period; others become noisier equally they examination their aids. Older children may brand a wider variety of sounds when wearing their hearing aids.
Observing your infant at home
Although it's claiming trying to tell how much your baby tin can hear, you tin can go a lot of information when you know what to wait for.
i. Talk to your audiologist about the ways your baby might answer to audio.
Your infant'south ability to answer to sound volition depend on the degree of the hearing loss and the effectiveness of the hearing aids. Ask your audiologist to explicate the types of sounds they call up your baby might hear.
Your audiologist might assess your baby'south hearing with a Behavioural Ascertainment Audiometry, which uses a range of different noisemakers. Yous will be able to observe some of the ways that your baby responds.
This guide will help you identify the behaviours that testify your babe is hearing sounds.
| Age | Typical hearing and listening behaviour |
| 0 - 28 days |
|
| i - four months |
|
| 4 - seven months |
|
ii. Accept note of what your baby does at abode
Don't try to do your ain hearing tests. If your babe is overly active or tired they may not reply to the sounds you expect. This can be disheartening. If yous've made the same sound several times your baby might have habituated and won't respond at all. It'southward better to just keep warning so that you are gear up to find those responses to sound that your baby naturally displays.
You will encounter the best hearing responses when it's tranquility and your infant is not fast comatose or upset. You will probably see more than obvious responses when your babe is very at-home or drifting off to sleep, or when there are sudden loud noises. If the house is noisy information technology may be more difficult to see responses to sure sounds.
It'south important to sentry whether your infant's response may have been to visual cues every bit rather than auditory ones. If you handclapping your hands in front of your baby's face causing a blinking response, you can't actually tell whether the blink is due to the loud sound or the movement of your hands. Some babies may also be tuned in to the olfactory property of a parent'south perfume or aftershave and apply that equally a clue to when Mum or Dad is close by.
The following questions are a guide to assist you with your observations
- How many different types of responses tin y'all run across?
- Are at that place whatsoever sounds your baby peculiarly likes or dislikes?
- Are there whatsoever sounds that cause your baby to startle or cry?
- Does your baby reply to soft or moderate sounds as well as loud sounds?
- Is there a detail fourth dimension of day when your babe is more responsive? (This would be a good fourth dimension of day to spend playing and talking with your infant.)
- Talk to your baby when you commencement turn on the hearing aid. What responses can you discover?
- Does your babe talk more oftentimes or differently when wearing the hearing aids?
Also consider keeping a "listening diary" to tape your observations. This will bear witness you your babe'due south progress and tin be useful in discussions with your audiologist and your child's early intervention teacher.
iii. Talk over your observations with your audiologist, including whatsoever concerns and questions.
Your observations are invaluable in helping your audiologist make decisions about fine-tuning your baby'southward hearing help.
Related articles:
- How audiologists test hearing
- Using hearing aids with babies anile 0-vi months
- Using hearing aids with babies over 6 months
Information provided by Hearing Australia. Reproduced with permission.
Disclaimer: The information independent on this website is non intended as a substitute for contained professional advice.
Source: https://www.aussiedeafkids.org.au/signs-of-hearing-in-babies.html
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