Patient's question:
Quietly he didn't hear. But sometimes the sound of the power switch would wake him up, and sometimes when he was almost falling asleep, a normal call would make his eyes open. My family and I thought nothing of it. But a careful examination of the test results showed moderate hearing loss...Doctor's answer:
Experts believe that audiological evaluation should be implemented within 3 months after birth, and diagnosis should be made before 6 months. This enables the child to understand interference as early as possible. Before discussing interference, let's briefly mention preventive measures. As seen from the causes of hearing impairment already discussed, the first step is to ensure prenatal care for pregnant women, preventing infections such as rubella and CMV virus. This not only reduces the risk of hearing impairment in newborns but also prevents the recurrence of many congenital diseases. Secondly, improve the quality of neonatal intensive care units, reduce the incidence of severe perinatal diseases, such as early detection of pathological jaundice and providing additional treatment, strictly control the use of ototoxic drugs during the neonatal period, etc. Additionally, pay attention to preventing many postnatal diseases, including environmental noise interference.For children already identified with hearing impairment, different medical interventions should be adopted based on the underlying causes. Medical intervention refers to the doctor providing a medical diagnosis and guidance on medical and/or surgical treatment for hearing loss and related diseases. Treatment plans include removing cerumen, addressing secretory otitis media, hearing reconstruction surgery, and cochlear implantation. Auditory rehabilitation is another important measure, which involves the fitting of personal amplification devices and sensory equipment, such as hearing aids, to provide compensatory or alternative treatment. The goal is to enable infants and young children wearing hearing aids to maximize their ability to perceive speech sounds, and the intensity of the speech sounds they hear should be within a safe and comfortable audible range.
The evaluation and intervention of social interaction skills are currently a new suggestion for comprehensive intervention for deaf children. The aim is to enhance and develop language abilities to restore growth and development levels, increasing parental recognition of their children's abilities and provision. Early intervention staff and the child's family need to negotiate together to provide early language signals during the sensitive period of language development, while also helping them acquire age-matched phonetic abilities, visual/spatial/motor skills, morphological discrimination skills, semantic comprehension skills, grammatical linkage skills, and practical application skills.