Hearing loss in young children : challenges in assessment and intervention

Hearing impairment in children is detrimental to speech, language, emotional and social development. Measuring the right hearing threshold and offering timely hearing rehabilitation is essential when hearing loss is detected by a screening test. Children with severe sensorineural hearing loss can be treated with a cochlear implant, a device that is used to treat increasingly younger patients. Children born prematurely can develop hearing loss due to underdeveloped inner ears. Caution is advised with early implantation. The screening test uses otoacoustic emissions (OAE), or spontaneous sounds generated from within the inner ear. A measurement tool has been developed to optimise middle ear problems to ensure a more accurate OAE test. This measurement tool has led to a reduction in the number of false negative test results