Download Normal Hearing Development in Children

NORMAL HEARING DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN
Prenatal stimulation:
• The human fetus possesses rudimentary hearing from 20 weeks of
gestation. This hearing will develop and mature during the
remainder of gestation. The fetus is able to hear sounds outside the
mother’s body, although it is able to hear low-frequency sounds
much better than high-frequency sound.
• Babies begin to hear in the last few months of pregnancy.
• Thus, when an infant emerges into the world, they are well
equipped for hearing system, although some evidence exists that an
infant's sensory threshold is higher than that of an adult (i.e. a
stimulus must be louder to be heard by a newborn).
However, if a newborn child does not display the following , it may be
a sign of a hearing problem:
1.
Does not startle, move, cry or react in any way to unexpected loud noises.
2. Does not awaken to loud noises.
3. Does not turn his/her head in the direction of a parent's voice.
4. Does not freely imitate sound.
Hearing at the first two important years:
The first two year is the time during which hearing develops in children.
It is important for parents to be able to recognize signs of a hearing
problem as early as possible and seek medical attention if there are any
concerns.
Here is a guide of signs of normal hearing development by age through
the first 2 years of life:
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From 1 to 3 Month:
• During this period , babies love to hear their parents voices.
• Babies seem to respond best to the female voice, the
one associated with comfort and food.
• Besides voices, infants enjoy listening to music and
are fascinated by the routine sounds of life as well.
From 4-7 Month
A baby's hearing is crucial to speech development. During this period ,
most babies begin to understand the fundamentals of communication
through hearing and language. When younger, a baby understands
meaning through the tone of voice, but now the infant is beginning to
pick out the components of speech. Most infants at this age can hear
and understand the different sounds a parent makes and the way words
form sentences.
Normal Hearing development from 4 to 7 months will be as follow:
By 4 months of age a baby should:
· Move or react when someone speaks or in response to any noise
· Startle when there is a very loud noise
Startle to sudden or loud sounds. Begin to localize sounds with eyes or
head movements.
By 6 months:
• Interest in different sounds. Experiment with making own sounds.
Seemingly recognise familiar voices.
2
By seven months a baby should:
• Turn his/her head towards a voice or a noise(when a parent calls
even without being seen)
• Stir or move in response to a noise or voice
• Startle when there is a large sound.
By 9 months a baby should:
Turn his/her head to find out where a sound is coming from
• Turn around if a parent is calling from behind
• Stir or move in response to voice or any sound
• Startle when there is a very loud noise.
9-12 months:
• Babble. Begin to understand simple words such as "mommy" and
"bye-bye". Begin to follow simple instructions.
At 12 months a baby should:
• Turn his/her head in all directions and show an interest in a
person's voice or a particular sound.
• Repeat sounds that parents make.
• Startle in response to a loud noise.
At 12-18 months:
• Words begin to form from the babble. Can use around 20 words
and understand around 50 words.
At 2 years:
• Can usually speak in simple sentences using a vocabulary of
around 200-300 words. Enjoy being read to and can identify and
name many things in picture books.
3
At 3-4 years:
• Use words and sentences to express needs, questions and feelings.
Vocabulary, pronunciation and understanding improve markedly
during these years.
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