Hearing and speech go hand in hand. As a baby grows older her hearing will become more analytical. Familiar sounds will arouse certain emotions.When babies are born their hearing is already developed. In fact the development of inner ear is complete by the 20th week of pregnancy. You must have noticed your baby getting stimulated in you womb when you come across a certain kind of loud noise. So, babies can identify the sounds from the time they are born. They are more familiar to their mother’s voice when they are born as they have been hearing it from the time of the development of their hearing capabilities in the womb.What can my newborn baby hear?In early infancy, babies are startled by loud noises. By the time they are three months old, they merely blink. At four months, they turn towards the source of the sound. Hearing and speech go hand in hand. By three months, most babies will have limited conversations with their parents. Familiar sounds will arouse certain emotions. How does a babys hearing develop?As she grows older, the babys hearing becomes more analytical. She understands that different emotions like anger and love have different voice modulations. Sounds help a child learn to communicate. Speech will develop faster if a child is spoken to and addressed.How can I tell if my child has a hearing problem?Since hearing and speech go hand-in-hand, if your child is not speaking by the time she is 36 months old, you may have to seek medical advice. Deficient hearing may be responsible for a speech problem. Hearing plays an important role in stimulating the brain power of babies. Therefore, hearing problems may also hamper brain development of babies.How can I take care of my baby’s ears?You need to take right care of your baby’s ear in order to prevent hearing problems. Here are some tips that you can follow to take right care of your baby’s ears.Do not put cotton buds or swabs in your baby’s ears for cleaning them.Clean your baby’s outer ears gently by using a soft cloth after bathing her.Do not put things like oil or anything else in your baby’s ears.Avoid smoking in front of your baby. Babies who are exposed to smoke are susceptible to ear infections.Keep your baby away from loud noise.Ear-problems are common in bottle-fed babies so make sure that you avoid bottle-feeding your baby.Try to use other methods of feeding like spoon feeding if breastfeeding is not possible.Do now allow problems like cold and cough to aggravate as it can give rise to ear infection.If you suspect any kind of ear infection, consult your doctor immediately.How to stimulate the development of baby’s hearing?Here is how you can stimulate the development of your baby’s hearing.Play soft and pleasing music for her.Get musical toys in which baby friendly music is played.Talk to her and sing songs for her.Read story books aloud for her.Modulate your voice while talking to her to boost her interest in listening.Do not scare her by making weird sounds.Keep the conversations going by telling her what you are doing while doing your chores.Talking to your baby will help her to grasp the speaking skills faster. You can help her identify different sounds by pointing at them when these sounds are heard. For example, you can point at cats mewing, dogs barking, bells ringing etc. When your baby is tired or over-stimulated she may not respond to certain sounds sometimes. But if your baby is not responding to any sound, you must bring it to the notice of your doctor. Early intervention and right management of such problems is important.
Hearing and speech go
hand in hand. As a baby grows older her hearing will become more analytical.
Familiar sounds will arouse certain emotions.
When
babies are born their hearing is already developed. In fact the development of
inner ear is complete by the 20th week of pregnancy. You must have noticed your
baby getting stimulated in you womb when you come across a certain kind of loud
noise. So, babies can identify the sounds from the time they are born. They are
more familiar to their mother’s voice when they are born as they have been
hearing it from the time of the development of their hearing capabilities in
the womb.
What
can my newborn baby hear?
In early
infancy, babies are startled by loud noises. By the time they are three months
old, they merely blink. At four months, they turn towards the source of the
sound. Hearing and speech go hand in hand. By three months, most
babies will have limited conversations with their parents. Familiar sounds will
arouse certain emotions.
How does a baby's hearing develop?
As
she grows older, the baby's hearing becomes more analytical. She understands
that different emotions like anger and love have different voice modulations.
Sounds help a child learn to communicate. Speech will develop faster if a child
is spoken to and addressed.
How can I tell if my child has a hearing
problem?
Since hearing and speech
go hand-in-hand, if your child is not speaking
by the time she is 36 months old, you may have to seek medical advice.
Deficient hearing may be responsible for a speech
problem. Hearing plays an important role in stimulating the brain
power of babies. Therefore, hearing problems may also hamper brain development
of babies.
How can I take care of my baby’s
ears?
You need to take right care of
your baby’s ear in order to prevent hearing
problems. Here are some tips that you can follow to take right care
of your baby’s ears.
Do not put cotton buds or swabs in your baby’s ears for
cleaning them.
Clean your baby’s outer ears
gently by using a soft cloth after bathing her.
Do not put things like oil or
anything else in your baby’s ears.
Avoid smoking in front of your
baby. Babies who are exposed to smoke are susceptible to ear
infections.
Keep your baby away from loud
noise.
Ear-problems are common in
bottle-fed babies so make sure that you avoid bottle-feeding your
baby.
Try to use other methods of
feeding like spoon feeding if breastfeeding is not possible.
Do now allow problems like cold
and cough to aggravate as it can give rise to ear infection.
If you suspect any kind of ear
infection, consult your doctor
immediately.
How to stimulate the development of
baby’s hearing?
Here is how you can
stimulate the development of your baby’s hearing.
Play soft and pleasing music for
her.
Get musical toys in which baby friendly music is
played.
Talk to her and sing songs for
her.
Read story books aloud for her.
Modulate your voice while talking
to her to boost her interest in listening.
Do not scare her by making weird
sounds.
Keep the conversations going by
telling her what you are doing while doing your
chores.
Talking
to your baby will help her to grasp the speaking skills faster. You can help
her identify different sounds by pointing at them when these sounds are heard.
For example, you can point at cats mewing, dogs barking, bells ringing etc.
When your baby is tired or over-stimulated she may not respond to certain
sounds sometimes. But if your baby is not responding to any sound, you must
bring it to the notice of your doctor. Early intervention and right management
of such problems is important.
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- The Indiaparenting Team
i'm an audiologist and wanted to add to the question "how do i know if my child has a hearing problem?" to clarify, you should never wait until 36 months to check hearing. the first years are so crucial to development, any concerns should be addressed immediately. for example, if your infant doesn't startle to loud sounds or turn toward your voice, etc.
my son parth who is two and a half years old now having profound hearing loss using hearing aids and goes to speech therapy classes .he is due to
cochlear implant at 4 years of age. any
suggestion from anywhere is welcome.
my son is 2 years and 3 months. whenever i call out his name he is not responding. seems like he has hearing loss. i would like to know if they are any specialists or hospitals in india where i can take him. i live in andhra pradesh.
i am looking for a good speech therapist in hyderabad or a special school for children that use hearing aid.
please let me know if you know somebody really good.
dear archana,
i too have a daughter of 2 years and she too has a similar problem as yours though not profound. it is really very crucial to treat them as early as possible. but make sure you get him to the right people. i wish you all the best and will pray for your son too to get well soon.
god bless
cathy
to sridevi,
please take your child to an ent specialist and he is having deafness then take him to mysore. i have heard that that is the best place to get a complete check up for deafness. they also specialise in treating such children. you must get your child treated as early as possible or else he will be poor in developement all throughout. i know of a family who did not pay attention to their child and now the child is in deep trouble. i do not wish to scare you but please dont waste time as molly(from usa) says.
regards,
rakhi
my younger brother is 17 year old and he still need speech therapy for talking. he only speek in breaking words not in a complete sentence. so despretely, looking any doctors for his treatment in hyderabad. so plz advise asap on samiuddmd@hotmail.com. i'll be thankful for providing on good advise
