{"id":6622,"date":"2020-07-15T14:23:28","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T18:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehearinginstitute.org\/?p=6622"},"modified":"2021-04-22T19:44:03","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T23:44:03","slug":"children-who-receive-hearing-loss-treatment-early-have-better-language-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehearinginstitute.org\/children-who-receive-hearing-loss-treatment-early-have-better-language-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Children Who Receive Hearing Loss Treatment Early Have Better Language Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), roughly three out of every 1,000 babies in the U.S. is born with hearing loss, and about 90 percent of these babies are born to hearing parents. Research shows that babies who receive early intervention for their hearing loss develop better language skills than babies who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Study<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"baby<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A study called \u201cAge Intervention for Permanent Hearing Loss and 5-Year Language Outcomes\u201d was published in the journal Pediatrics <\/em>in 2017. The purpose of this study was to look closely at how early intervention for hearing loss affected language development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers studied 350 Australian children with permanent childhood hearing loss (PCHL) who received a hearing aid or cochlear implant by age three and compared them to 120 children with normal hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children\u2019s language and communication skills were evaluated around age five or six by speech pathologists. Parents also described their children\u2019s language skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Research Showed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Evaluations showed that children who received amplification by three months of age had significantly better language skills than those who were treated at 24 months. Children with a hearing loss at 70 dB showed even greater benefit than those with a hearing loss<\/a> at 50 dB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, children who received cochlear implants by six months of age showed better language development than those who received implants at 24 months, even when controlling for demographic variables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Importance of Early Intervention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers identified that 72 percent of children who had had a universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) received treatment before age six months, while only 32 percent of unscreened children did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe diminished effect size of UNHS compared to that of age at intervention is likely because even though UNHS maximizes the opportunity of early intervention, not all screened children commenced amplification early, and not all unscreened children commenced amplification late,\u201d the authors explained<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., all 50 states participate in an Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program, which has the goal of screening all babies for hearing loss by one month of age, diagnosing hearing loss by three months of age and ensuring intervention by six months of age. As a result, more than 96 percent of babies born in the U.S. have their hearing screened by the time they\u2019re a month old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about newborn hearing loss<\/a> or to schedule a screening, call the experts at Heuser Hearing Institute today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About Hearing Loss<\/h3>\n\n\n\n