Most families are aware that when they have a newborn baby, that baby’s hearing is tested at birth, and then again during their first year of life. Hearing tests on infants are not painful, but they can help to determine whether or not there is an issue with hearing before it could become a problem later in life.
Possible hearing loss is much harder to identify in older children, because some of their speech skills may already be developed. However, if your child is struggling with their speech, or is struggling with their development in general, a hearing test may be the best thing that you can do for them so that you can determine whether their delay or issues is down to the hearing or something else. With that in mind, it can help to learn the signs as to whether or not your child needs a hearing test. Let’s take a look at some of those below.
- It’s hit and miss. If you are talking to your child and they seem to hear you find some of the time, but then they don’t respond at other times it can be really frustrating. You might think your child has been willfully ignorant and choosing to ignore you, and that can lead to frustration in the home and arguments. The problem is that some hearing loss isn’t constant. A child who is dealing with hearing loss may not hear something that you say on one day but they may hear it on another because of the tone of voice that you are using.
- The TV volume has hit the ceiling. Generally, when you have a house full of children things tend to be pretty loud. Everybody is having their own conversations, somebody may be listening to music in one area of the home, so you might notice TV volume creeping up and up. This isn’t necessarily unusual, but if your child specifically asks for you to turn the TV up every single time beyond the usual limits, that may require some investigation.
- “Don’t say ‘what’, say ‘pardon’.” If you find yourself using this phrase over and over again, it may mean an overuse of the word ‘what?’ by your child. When they are asking ‘what?’ every single day, and every single time you say something, this could be a problem.
- They’re struggling at school. If your child’s grades are falling or their teachers are noticing that they are not responding to their name being called or are struggling to listen in the classroom, the hearing could be the issue. Being able to rule out any issues with the hearing is important, and if your child is struggling at school they are going to need some additional help.
- They are talking louder and louder. Children are loud, and there’s no getting away from that, but if their volume with their voice is going up and up it’s likely that they can’t really hear themselves speaking as well as they used to.
