Parents urged to test young babies’ hearing at home

PARENTS are being urged to conduct home hearing tests on their babies in a campaign to encourage early detection of deafness.

A list of simple exercises has been drawn up that explain to family members how to observe and assess a child’s hearing from the time they are born until they reach their first birthday.

The campaign is the brainchild of public health nurse, Clare Farrell, who was concerned at the length of time it was taking for youngsters to be diagnosed as having hearing difficulties.

“The way hearing loss is detected now is often when a parent becomes anxious because the child is failing to learn to talk.

“The child may be two years old by then and they will have lost time in treating the condition,” she said.

Around one in 700 babies born in Ireland are profoundly deaf and more suffer lesser degrees of hearing loss.

Detecting hearing loss in a baby is notoriously difficult and while a new hi-tech ear probe is being piloted for newborns in a handful of locations in the country, problems that develop as the baby grows may go unnoticed.

Experts believe, however, that 70% of childhood deafness could be identified by parents using simple, lo-tech methods such as those recommended by Clare Farrell.

She has created a leaflet with exercises and tick boxes for parents of newborns and has had it translated into 10 languages for use by the major immigrant communities.

A parent who is concerned that their child is not responding the way the leaflet suggests, is advised to seek medical advice straight away rather than rely solely on the standard hearing test carried out on all babies at the age of seven months.

The “Can Your Baby Hear You” campaign is starting in the Dublin North Central community care area but is expected to roll out nationwide.

Among the responses parents are advised to watch for are:

Shortly after birth: Startled by sudden loud noise like hard clap or slamming door

One month: Notices and pauses to listen to sudden prolonged sounds like vacuum cleaner

Four months: Quietens or smiles at sound of parents voice even when parent out of sight

Nine months: Listens attentively to familiar sounds and looks for source of sounds made out of sight. Shows pleasure in babbling loudly.

One year: Responds to own name and other familiar words.