Children and Hearing Loss

Significant hearing loss is one of the most common major abnormalities present at birth and if undetected will impede speech, language and cognitive development. Significant bilateral hearing loss is present in about 1 to 3 per 1000 newborn infants in the well baby nursery. Screening by high risk registry alone can only identify about 50% of newborns with significant congenital hearing loss. Reliance on physician observation and/or parental recognition has not been successful in the past in detecting significant hearing loss in the first year of life. (AAP-policy)

In Michigan over 250 babies are identified every year with significant bilateral hearing loss. The age of identification has decreased from 2 ½ years to 2.4 months!

• Research has shown that identifying hearing loss early (before three months) and beginning intervention services before six months will improve outcomes for these children. This is true for all children with hearing loss, including children with mild hearing loss, unilateral hearing loss and those with greater degrees of hearing loss. By the time they enter first grade, children identified under 6 months of age are 1-2 years ahead of their later identified peers in language, cognitive, and social skills.

• Research on brain development indicates that the critical time for learning language is from birth to three years of age. Without early identification of hearing loss and subsequent intervention, children are at risk of missing the opportunity for communication and socialization development during early life experiences.

Above information provided by the State of Michigan

Audiogram - Degrees of Hearing Loss and Speech sounds.  (Audiogram is the name of the graphic depiction of how someone hears at different pitches and volume levels.)
Click here to open audiogram in a Microsoft Word document format


Link to the State of MI Resource Guide for Families with Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/a_unhsmanual_53441_7.pdf
This link will take you to a lengthy document designed by the State of Michigan. Feel free to print the whole document or select certain section for review or print. Feel free to copy the link to your "favorites" for future easy reference.

Link to the State of MI brochure related to the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/HearingTest(Eng)2C_53016_7.pdf

Link to a program called Guide-By-Your-Side

http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-2942_4911_21429-120286--,00.html

Link to Parent Info about State of Michigan Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program

http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-2942_4911_21429-119531--,00.html

Link to Non-Profit Support Group for Families with children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Michigan Hands & Voices
www.mihandsandvoices.org
A non-profit support group for families with children who are deaf and hard of hearing in the state of Michigan. Site provides information related to joining the group, how to find more information about the group, past and current newsletters, etc... There is a national group called Hands & Voices.

Boys Town National Research Hospital
http://www.boystownhospital.org/home.asp

Boys Town National Research Hospital, with two locations in Omaha, Nebraska at 555 N. 30th St. and 14000 Boys Town Hospital Road in the historic Village of Boys Town, provides nationally-oriented clinical and surgical services. Research programs focuse on childhood deafness, visual impairment and related communication disorders. Accredited by the The Joint Commission, Boys Town National Research Hospital is dedicated to improving the lives of children and their families through education and technology.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
www.nidcd.nih.gov/

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) is one of the Institutes that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH is the Federal government's focal point for the support of biomedical research. NIH's mission is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. Simply described, the goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability. NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

*Image provided by Unitron