When should a hearing test be performed?
Hearing loss can affect a child’s ability to develop communication, language, and social skills. The earlier children with hearing loss start getting services, the more likely they are to reach their full potential. If you are a parent and you suspect your child has hearing loss, trust your instincts and speak with your child’s doctor. Don’t wait!
Children
- Parent or caregiver concern
- History of ear infections
- Frequent upper respiratory infections
- Allergies, snoring, and/or mouthbreathing
- Delayed or disordered speech-language development
- Speech mis-articulations
- Developmental delay
- Balance problems
- Vision problems
- Poor listening attention
- Frequent request for repetition (e.g. “what?” or “huh?”)
- Misinterpretation of what has been said
- “Selective” hearing
- Trouble hearing in noise
- Difficulty following multi-step directions
- Trouble with listening comprehension
- Problems organizing thoughts for language expression (oral or written)
- Loudness sensitivity
- Difficulty learning to read
- Trouble with reading comprehension
- Concerns regarding attention skills
- Concerns regarding learning skills
- Concerns regarding social communication skills
Adults
- Trouble hearing a doorbell or a telephone ringing
- Complaints that speech sounds “muffled”; it is loud enough, just not as clear as desired
- Frequently asking for repetition of what has been said
- Complaints that people are mumbling when they speak
- Preferring the volume of electronic devices louder than friends or family members
- Great difficulty hearing in a crowded room or in background noise
- Difficulty hearing in a large room (i.e. auditorium) or at your place of worship
- Needing to look at someone when they are talking in order to understand
- Missing parts of conversations
- Responding inappropriately to questions or comments
- Tinnitus (ringing, buzzing, crickets, static noises in the ears)
- Balance problems