Hearing Aids Are Not Just For Adults
It has been found, through various medical studies, children with mild to profound hearing loss tend to fall behind their peers when learning language and communication skills. Infants and children learn by sound input, which includes adults’ reactions to their actions and sounds, the spoken words and tone of voice of parents and caregivers and other environmental sound cues. Hearing aid use in young children, as young as one month old, has been found to have significant benefits.
Some types of congenital, present at birth, hearing problems cause only mild to moderate hearing loss. These types of hearing loss can benefit greatly from the use of hearing aids and it is not unheard of to employ the use of hearing assistive devices on children as young as one month old. Hearing aids, being sound amplification devices, allow natural sound to penetrate to the inner ear and give children with hearing loss the same opportunity as children with no hearing loss to learn speech and language at a normal pace.
The most beneficial type of hearing aid used for children is the behind the ear hearing aid. This type can be adjusted to continue to fit the ear as the child grows, which most children do at a fast pace. In the ear models of hearing aids tend to increase the expense, as they cannot be adjusted as the child grows and need to be replaced frequently. The behind the ear model can also be chosen because of the design flexibility of newer digital models, making the hearing aid device less visible to others than traditional behind the ear hearing aids.
There are also types of hearing aids available with FM receivers and telecoil adapted receivers that are used with microphones, worn by the teacher, in the classroom. This type of aid allows the teacher’s voice to be transmitted directly into the ear of the student wearing the hearing assistance device. The FM receiver hearing aid can greatly benefit the student with hearing loss, as it diminishes the distractions caused by excessive ambient noise in the classroom.
Hearing aids are not just for adults; children with diagnosed hearing loss can benefit enormously from the use of hearing aid devices. Parents or caregivers who suspect a child is experiencing any level of hearing loss should immediately contact an audiologist or hearing professional for a hearing examination. Early diagnosis and use of hearing aids can allow children to grow and learn on pace with other children who have normal hearing levels.
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