It may be beneficial to have the hearing of young children tested more frequently, according to a new study published in the Journal of Development and Behavioral Pediatrics. Currently, children are screened at birth and then just before entering kindergarten.
The three-year study, conducted by Dr. Parul Bhatia, a pediatrician at Children s Hospital Los Angeles, involved testing the hearing of 2,000 children during routine pediatric visits. Of those children, 10 percent failed initial screening in at least one ear, and five children were found to have permanent hearing loss.
Dr. Bhatia believes that this points to the importance of doing periodic screening in an effort to implement earlier interventions. These are critical years for language and communication development. If the hearing loss isn t found until the child is 4 or 5 years old, it is much harder to catch up at that point.
And with equipment costs averaging about $5,000 and testing taking only ten minutes, ACSH believes that this is something to seriously consider implementing.
ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan agreed wholeheartedly with these findings: Why would treating pediatricians or parents, or pre-school health authorities feel reluctant to test toddlers hearing, when deficits are so easy to detect and the ramifications of neglect are so severe for long-term learning and communication?
