Infantile hearing loss. Early diagnosis is essential
It is probably not among the first concerns of new parents, yet childhood hearing loss is not rare nor negligible. In our country, one child out of a thousand is born with a more or less significant hearing impairment and as many as one out of four is so serious as to jeopardize normal cognitive, psychomotor and language development; moreover, every year more than 500 newborns are affected by profound deafness , i.e. the complete inability to perceive sounds, a discomfort that completely inhibits verbal communication, since the baby, completely isolated, tends to become silent despite the throat and vocal cords are able to make sounds. Added to this are developmental lowerings and hearing losses , which increase the size of the problem and the importance of timely and early interventions.
THE CAUSES
In 20-40% of cases of congenital deafness (i.e. children deaf at birth), the exact causes of the disorder cannot be established. Sometimes it is a genetic disease, in other circumstances viral infections, perinatal suffering, prematurity.
As for the hearing deficits that arise in the pediatric age , we can distinguish two types.
■ Conductive hearing loss involves damage to the middle or outer ear. Among the causes there is above all acute otitis media , one of the most frequent pathologies in the first years of a child's life. Symptoms are pain, fullness and loss of hearing, fever, crying and discharge from the ear. It is estimated that 85% of children suffer from it at least once in childhood. It is generally temporary and treatable , but predisposed subjects, affected for example by allergic rhinitis, can be affected by recurring episodes, even more than four a year. Other causes are seromucous otitis, the so-called swimmer's otitis, very painful and due to stagnation of water in the ear canal, some physical impediments , such as earwax plugs or foreign bodies accidentally inserted into the ear, craniofacial malformations or head trauma .
■ Sensorineural hearing loss affects the inner ear, or cochlea, and the auditory nerve. When it is not congenital – due to fetal damage, accidents at the time of birth or genetic diseases – it can be the result above all of infectious diseases , such as measles, mumps or meningitis, but also of excessive exposure to noise or ototoxic drugs . Incurable and irreversible , it can be relieved by hearing aids or cochlear implants.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A TIMELY DIAGNOSIS
The lack of reaction to sound stimuli, the surprised or frightened look of the child, when you approach him speaking loudly but without him seeing you,
they can be symptoms not of trivial inattention but of an actual hearing impairment. Recognizing them early is essential: if the child does not receive (or partially receives) the verbal messages, he will not be able to form an auditory memory and will receive fewer intellectual stimuli , with consequent alterations in the development of his personality. Much research shows that there is a relationship between hearing loss - even transient but frequent - and lack of attention, language deficits and poor school performance.
Fortunately, today there are hearing screening methods that allow for the early identification of the various types of hearing loss:
■ otoacoustic emissions , which can already be performed at birth;
■ auditory evoked potentials (ABR – Auditory brainstem response), for infants and young children;
■ behavioral audiometry test , after one year of age;
■ tympanometry or impedancemetry .
By Duccio Scarpelli | Article taken from Born Mom | Ed. Winter
