Patient's question:
Quietly he couldn'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 completed before 6 months. This allows the child to understand interference as early as possible. Before discussing interference, let's first mention some 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 helps prevent the recurrence of many congenital diseases. Second, improve the quality of neonatal intensive care units to reduce the occurrence of severe perinatal diseases, such as early detection of pathological jaundice and providing additional treatment, strictly controlling 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 determining the direction of medical and/or surgical treatment for hearing damage 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 individual 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 speech abilities to restore growth and development levels, while increasing parental recognition of their children's abilities and provision. Early intervention staff and the child's family need to engage in joint discussions to provide early signals for language practice during the sensitive period of language development, while also helping them acquire age-appropriate phonetic abilities, visual/spatial/motor skills, morphological discrimination skills, semantic comprehension skills, grammatical linkage skills, and practical application skills.