Worried about your child's hearing?

Hearing difficulties can impact on many areas of development, including language and communication.

If you have concerns about your child’s hearing speak to your health visitor or your GP. If required, a referral can be made to audiology.

Signs to look out for

• Constantly asking you to repeat what you have said
  
  
• Mishearing comments made to them
  
  
• Difficulty locating your voice in a large or noisy area
  
  
• Wanting the TV / music to be turned up loud, particularly if returning the volume to normal causes your child to lose interest
  
  
• Needing to repeatedly raise your voice to get a response
  
  
• Your child watching your faces/lips intently
  
  
• Tires quickly and becomes easily frustrated
  
  
• Talks louder or more softly than expected
  
  
• Persistent symptoms of congestion. This can include:
  
  
  • constant mouth breathing
  • snoring
  • repeated ear infections or
  • non waxy discharge from ears.
    
    
• Concerns in relation to speech and language development e.g. limited vocabulary, nasal speech

Often temporary hearing loss in children is caused by Glue ear (fluid in the middle part of the ear). With Glue ear the level of hearing loss can change. This means children may display some of the signs above on some days but not others. Further information is available on Glue ear.

There are things you can do to help!

Improving the listening environment: 

• Reduce background noise where possible
• Consider where in the room is quietist, or if another room will be quieter
• Always speak to your child when in the same room as them
• Rooms with soft furnishings reduce echo
• Sit where the light falls on the speaker’s face, rather than where they have their back to the light
• Sit where any distractions from behind the speaker will be reduced 

Further information

• East and West Staffordshire Children’s Community Audiology website
  
  
• Stoke and North Staffordshire Childrens Audiology website
  
  
• NHS Information on hearing problems
  
  
• National Deaf Children’s Society information