News Karnataka
Friday, March 29 2024
Cricket
Mysuru

AIISH to conduct free hearing screening camp for World Hearing Day

Photo Credit :

Mysuru: Suspecting a hearing issue in your precious little one? Get the hearing tested! All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, as part of World Hearing Day, will be conducting free hearing testing at its premise on March 4.

M. Pushpavathi, Director, AIISH said “In school, we all study the structure of the ear, the importance of the ear and even how we hear with our ears. We are also aware that with increasing age, there can be deterioration in hearing. Most of us have seen our grandparents struggle to hear us speak and ask us to speak loudly, request for the television volume to be turned up or sometimes they themselves end up speaking loudly. We have also seen some older individuals use hearing aids. Through these experiences, we have a general idea that there is a link between speaking and hearing. However, there is a deeper link between hearing and speaking, especially in children, mainly because of the impact it has during development. Yes, if a child is unable to hear from birth, or during the very early developmental years of its life, will have difficulty in speaking and learning languages. This is simply because children learn and acquire speech and language abilities through their hearing. The way sounds are pronounced, the way speech is intoned, where to use punctuations and pauses in speech and a style of speaking is all acquired through the ability of hearing. If the child has a hearing loss and goes without rehabilitation, then the child does not develop these skills and misses out all this during that precious period of development. Our ears have a very important function of transferring the environmental sounds, especially speech, to our brain. This way we learn to speak”.

“Now, the question on most minds would be, “how are young ones born with hearing issues? There are many factors that lead to such a condition, like, infections to the mother during pregnancy, specific injuries that occur to the child during birth, other birth complications like-low birth weight, premature birth, infections to the child immediately following birth, etc. Not all children born with such conditions have hearing issues, also sometimes even in the absence of these risk factors, they can have hearing problems. It is hence important that every new born baby is screened for hearing issues. For screening, an audiologist can be contacted who will check your little one for possible hearing related issues. If hearing loss goes undetected, especially for a long time, your child will not develop speech abilities like other normal children. For example, if someone doesn’t get their child checked for a possible hearing loss up to the age of two years, the child misses out on two whole years of speech and language development. A two-year-old child must be able to join two words together and speak in phrases. But if the two-year-old child has an undiagnosed hearing loss, the child will barely have a vocabulary of 2-3 meaningful words. Moreover, in the long run, the child will not be able to understand things taught in school and will develop a lag in academic skills too. Some children may appear to have normal hearing, but might not understand what the teacher teaches and this could be because of a processing problem. However, if the hearing related issues are diagnosed at an early stage itself, then immediate measures can be taken to fit suitable hearing aids or other suitable devices and a rehabilitation plan can begin at the earliest. The brain is still undergoing development at those early stages and when rehabilitated appropriately, the child learns faster and better. They will also learn to pick up speech and language skills and can be transferred into mainstream schooling” added Pushpavathi.

Dr. Swapna.N, Head –Department of Prevention of Communication Disorder, AIISH,”Another question that may arise in your mind is “Are there ways to detect hearing loss at home? As a parent, can I do something to check my child’s hearing?”. Well, the answer is yes. You can closely monitor your child for a few signs that may help indicate the presence of a hearing loss. Answer these questions and you will know whether your child has hearing loss. If your little one is younger than 4 months, does he/she.

-Startle to loud sounds?

-Wake up or get stirred by loud noises?

-Respond to your voice by smiling or making “happy” sounds?

-Calm down by listening to a familiar voice?

-If your little one is between 4 – 9 months, does he/she…

-Smile when spoken to?

-Turn around to look for a toy that has made a sound?

-Turn head towards a familiar sound/voice?

-Repeat few sounds like papapa…, mamama…, etc.?

If you feel that the answer to anyone of these questions is a ‘No’, please contact an Audiologist and get your little one’s hearing tested! You can also contact the Department of Prevention of Communication Disorders (POCD) at the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysuru to get a free hearing testing done on March 4 which has been recognised worldwide as the WORLD HEARING DAY! All children below six years can avail these services. Persons in other age groups also will be screened, which will be on appointment basis. For further details, contact: Dept. of POCD, AIISH: 0821-2502312/2703, Harish Kumar: +919738421106.

Share this:
MANY DROPS MAKE AN OCEAN
Support NewsKarnataka's quality independent journalism with a small contribution.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

To get the latest news on WhatsApp