Hearing problem in kids hamper growth: Expert

Hearing problem in kids hamper growth: Expert
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Hearing problem in kids hamper growth: Expert
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Hearing difficulties in the children would hamper their overall growth, said noted ENT specialist Dr Yarlagadda Subbarayudu while addressing the health education programme at Vasavya Nursing Home here on Saturday with Dr G Samaram in the chair.

Vijayawada: Hearing difficulties in the children would hamper their overall growth, said noted ENT specialist Dr Yarlagadda Subbarayudu while addressing the health education programme at Vasavya Nursing Home here on Saturday with Dr G Samaram in the chair. The ENT specialist said that the hearing difficulties would affect the thinking ability of children and they could not respond properly as they could not hear what the others saying.

He said the disability would affect their linguistic ability. "Particularly, they would lag behind in the subjects like mathematics, sciences apart from languages," the doctor said.Moreover, the hearing-impaired children do not mingle with their peers. The parents without understanding their disability, think that they are nitwits which is unfair, he said. The hearing-impaired children could not pronounce the words clearly, the doctor said adding that the backwardness in academics might result in their depression.

The hearing difficulty might occur because of marriages in close relatives, or defects in the formation of ear parts, or due to infections. Lack of oxygen supply during birth, premature delivery, failed to cry immediately after birth, low weight during birth, prolonged labour pains are some other reasons for the hearing problems, he added.

Jaundice, epilepsy, whooping cough, tuberculosis may also cause hearing impairment, he said and added hearing loud sounds for a long time and injuries due to fall are also some other reasons for the problem.The ENT specialist said that it is easy to observe hearing difficulty in infants. "If there is no response even after sound, it could be construed as hearing impairment," he said.

If the children could not talk even after 18 months age it should be construed that they are suffering from hearing difficulty, he said. The hearing impairment could be assessed using procedures like otoacoustic emissions, auditory brainstem response and pure tone audiometry, he said.

According to the World Health Organisation statistics, 46.6 crore people are suffering from hearing impairment out of which 3.4 crore are children.

The specialist said that if precautions taken 60 per cent of the hearing impairment problems could be solved. He said that hearing aid machines and cochlear implants could be used to overcome hearing impairment. Dr G Maru proposed a vote of thanks.

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