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Hearing

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Key points

  • Causes of hearing problems in children include infection of the middle ear, genetic disorders, exposure to loud noise, and certain diseases (such as meningitis).
  • In Australia, one out of every 1,000 children is diagnosed at birth with a hearing loss. By the time they reach school age, 2 in every 1,000 children are diagnosed as having a hearing loss.
  • ‘Hard of hearing’ usually means a hearing loss that ranges from mild to severe. ‘Deaf’ usually means a hearing loss that is severe to profound.  

What is typical?

Signs that your baby can hear
Indications that your baby can hear include:
  • Newborn to eight weeks of age — startles or widens their eyes at sudden noises nearby and is woken or stirred from sleep by noise.
  • Eight weeks to four months — looks towards direction of sound and may quieten while listening.
  • Six to 12 months — turns head towards known voices or sounds, starts to babble.
  • 12 to 18 months — knows the names of favourite toys, begins to imitate simple words and sounds.
  • 18 to 24 months — has a small vocabulary of single words, and can understand simple directions such as ‘Give mummy the ball’
  • Two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half years — has clear speech with a good vocabulary.
Signs of hearing loss in older children
Some signs that your older child may have trouble hearing include that they:
  • delayed speech and language skills
  • lack of response to loud noises
  • a voice quality that is too loud or hard to understand
  • needing spoken words repeated, or misunderstanding what is being said.
  • don’t respond when called
  • have a dip in school grades (because they can’t hear the teacher)
  • complain of a ringing sound in their ears (tinnitus)
  • talk too loudly
  • watch the television with the volume turned up too high
  • pronounce words incorrectly
  • appear inattentive and prone to daydreaming.

What are the common concerns?

Hearing loss can also be described as:
  • congenital — when the hearing loss occurs before or just after birth. Hearing loss can have genetic causes or exposure to certain diseases in utero or soon after birth can harm the hearing mechanism of the baby.
  • acquired — when the loss happens later (for example, due to disease or trauma).
Some of the causes of temporary deafness in children include:
  • build-up of wax in the ear canal
  • a foreign object (such as a bead or the tip of a cotton bud) stuck in the ear canal
  • excess mucus in the Eustachian tube, caused by a cold
  • otitis media (infection of the middle ear).
Some babies are at increased risk of hearing problems. Risk factors include premature birth, low birth weight and jaundice.

What can I do?

If you have any doubt at all about your baby or child’s hearing, have them tested. The earlier hearing loss is identified, the better for the child’s language, learning and overall development.

Who can I speak to?

Speak to your general practitioner (GP) and they will refer you to an audiologist or an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist. You can also contact:

Helpful reading

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