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Do You Hear What I Hear?
Hearing Difficulty, Loss and Screening
By Carma Haley Shoemaker
One aspect that may indicate a need for immediate testing – as well as intensive follow up testing – is family history. Where deafness is indicated in a family history, the risk of a child being born deaf or being born hearing and experiencing a rapid hearing loss in childhood is great.
"Many people have misunderstandings as to what their family history of deafness is from," Dr. Lotke says. "If a mother was deaf due to meningitis then the risk to her children is quite small. It's not different than it would be with other parents. It really depends upon the exact family history and the amount of deaf family members in that history. However, any family history of deafness would be an indication of further or repeat testing. The exact risk to the child is not known because even when you have two deaf parents the risk of deafness in the child only goes up to 10 percent, meaning that nine out of 10 children born to two deaf parents would be hearing. However, this increase in percentage is still a hundred fold greater than the normal population."
Early screening for hearing loss or deafness is important in the process of helping both parents and child learn to cope and live with the difficulty.
"The earlier we can diagnose deafness offers no question to the amount of improved and positive outcomes," Dr. Lotke says. "With early screening and intervention, we can help the parents to cope with the deafness or hearing loss, teach them to integrate the child better and teach them to communicate with their child regardless of their level of hearing. It can be done."
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