Two or three children in every thousand experience some degree of hearing loss in the USA alone, which means, as a parent, you need to be vigilant and look for the signs of hearing loss in your child.
In order to do that, it would be useful to know what the main clues of hearing loss in children are, so without further ado…
- Not responding
A really clear sign that your child may not be able to hear properly is the fact that they often do not respond when talking to you. This is especially likely to be the case if they respond when you’re looking directly at them, but not when you are turned away because that would indicate they may be lipreading to understand you.
- Turning the volume up
If your child always wants the volume on their TV or iPad or whatever turned up really high – higher than you would normally expect it to be – it could be a sign they can’t hear too well. Individuals who are a first time hearing aid user are often shocked at the volume of their devices when they switch the hearing aid on for the first time because they just didn’t realize how high they needed the volume, so this is a great clue to look out for.
- Your child is angry or frustrated
Behavioral problems are very common in children who are experiencing hearing loss. They are not bad kids, they are just angry and frustrated because they don’t understand what is being said or what is going on around them, but they don’t know how to explain, so they act out instead. Obviously, sometimes kids just have behavioral issues, but if you notice your child is acting out and you spot any of the other clues here, it could be that a hearing issue is the cause of their problems.
- They move their ear closer
Something that a lot of kids who are experiencing hearing loss only in one ear do is move the “good” ear closer to the person who is speaking to them. This is often the first indicator for parents that something is going wrong because it is a pretty unusual thing to do.
- Their grades fall
Unfortunately, many children, when they start to experience hearing loss, are unable to hear what their teachers are saying, which means they cannot follow instructions as effectively and their grades start to drop as a result. This often leads to them getting in trouble or pushed to improve, which can cause the aforementioned anger and frustration to rear its head.
- Your child is loud
If your child starts to talk more loudly than they used to do, it could be because they cannot hear how loud they are actually being, which is a clear sign that they may be experiencing hearing loss.
If you notice any of these clues in your child, visit a health professional as soon as possible.
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