Detection of Hearing Problems in the Early Life Is Very Important

According to a British study it was found that if hearing problems were detected in early life then it would prevent the delay in learning language as they grow. They analysed about 120 children with severe hearing impairment. Then it was found that those whose hearing problems were detected early in life developed better language skills than those born when screening was not done. Newborn screening programs are very efficient only if it as followed up. Dr Walter E. Nance, chairman of human genetics at the Medical College of Virginia said that newborn hearing screening programs in the 1960s were criticized. But as better tests were developed, states began to mandate such programs.

The results of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Universal screening was endorsed in 1993 by a consensus conference of the US National Institutes of Health, and now every state has newborn screening made mandatory. The latest version of the hearing test can show the brain’s response to sounds or even the activity of the sound-detecting hair cells deep within the ear. Cynthia C. Morton, a professor of obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive physiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and a co-author says that few of the parents do not go in for proper follow up check ups. Screening for hearing defects should be seen as essential as screening for dangerous inherited metabolic conditions.