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Hearing Problems in Children

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Summary

Most children hear and listen from the moment they are born. They learn to talk by imitating the sounds around them and the voices of their parents and caregivers. But about 2 or 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born deaf or hard-of-hearing. More lose their hearing later during childhood.

Babies should have a hearing screening before they are a month old. If your child has a hearing loss, it is important to consider the use of hearing devices and other communication options by age 6 months. That's because children start learning speech and language long before they talk.

Hearing problems can be temporary or permanent. Sometimes, ear infections, injuries or diseases affect hearing. If your child does not hear well, get help.

NIH: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Start Here

Hearing Loss in Children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Your Baby's Hearing and Communicative Development Checklist (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

Hearing Tests for Children (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Screening for Hearing Loss (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Testing Baby's Hearing (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

Hearing Tests (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Living With

Assistive Devices: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

American Sign Language (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
Building Communication Skills (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Earbuds (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Ototoxicity (Ear Poisoning) (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Specifics

Auditory Neuropathy (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) Also in Spanish
Auditory Processing Disorder (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Aural Atresia (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Ear Injuries (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Enlarged Vestibular Aqueducts and Childhood Hearing Loss (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) Also in Spanish
Pendred Syndrome (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) Also in Spanish
Types of Hearing Loss (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Genetics

About Genetics and Hearing Loss (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
CHARGE syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
Deafness and myopia syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
Thiamine-responsive megaloblastic anemia syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Videos and Tutorials

Hearing and the cochlea (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

Data and Statistics About Hearing Loss in Children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Deafness in Children (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: Hearing Disorders in Children (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Reference Desk

Glossary (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
Your Ears (For Kids) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

Directory of Organizations (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
Find an Audiologist (American Academy of Audiology)
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Children

Can Loud Music Hurt My Ears? (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Going to the Audiologist (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Topic Image

MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

National Institutes of Health

The primary NIH organization for research on Hearing Problems in Children is the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Other Languages

Find health information in languages other than English on Hearing Problems in Children

Disclaimers

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