The sooner a hearing deficiency is diagnosed, the better. Nowadays even a newborn baby’s hearing can be tested directly after birth. In most parts of the United States it is now compulsory to screen a newborn baby’s hearing. The hearing screening test results appear on the birth certificate.

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Unfortunately the average age at which children with a hearing loss are identified is two years and four months. In some cases it can be as late as six years. This is too late and it weakens the prospects for adequate communication in the hearing world. It is because the first three years of a child’s life are the most important time for a child to acquire speech and language and thus learn to communicate with others.

How can one identify hearing loss?
Although children may exhibit symptoms of hearing loss, the only way that it can be determined for sure is through adequate testing. No whisper tests or home-made tests can do this. Testing must be performed by a qualified person such as an audiologist, using a properly functioning audiometer.

Hearing tests are performed to determine whether a person has a hearing loss, how severe the loss is, in which part of the ear the damage is, and what aid he can receive.

A person’s hearing loss is graphed on an audiogram.

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