Medicines, infections... 34 million children worldwide suffer from hearing loss! These habits are stealing hearing

Today is the 23rd National "Ear Love Day", and the theme of the publicity and education activities is "Caring for Hearing Health, Listening to a Wonderful Future".

Listen to beautiful music, communicate with people unimpeded, feel the crisp birdsong and babbling sound of nature... Our lives are enriched by being able to hear a wide variety of sounds.

But you know, 5 percent of the world's population, or 466 million people, suffer from varying degrees of hearing disability, including 34 million children. As the saying goes, "ten deaf and nine dumb", within 3 years old is a critical period for children's language development, long-term hearing loss will affect the child's language, intelligence and psychological development, so the early detection and early diagnosis of hearing loss is especially important for infants and children.

Human hearing is formed in this way

Generally speaking, the baby's hearing organs have begun to develop around the eighth week in the mother's belly, and at six to seven months, the baby in the stomach can hear the mother's voice through fluid conduction. About 3 days after birth, babies can already distinguish between new voices and sounds they have heard. 1 to 2 months after birth, the baby can distinguish the source of the sound and turn his head left and right. 3 to 4 months after birth, the baby has been able to turn his head skillfully and be amused by funny sounds. After 7 to 8 months of birth, the baby begins to be able to understand the meaning of the adult's speech and cooperate with some movements.

By the age of 1, babies will be able to react to their names and begin to say monosyllabic words, such as "daddy" and "mommy."

note! With these symptoms, your child may be suffering from hearing loss

Parents should usually pay more attention to their children's hearing health, if the following manifestations appear, they need to suspect that the baby has hearing loss.

- Over 6 months of age, will not turn to the source of sound.

- Language retardation, 1 year old can not speak simple continuous sounds, such as "mom", etc.

- I can't understand the instructions of adults, and often ask "Huh?" repeatedly? ”

- Parents will turn their heads when they see him, but they will not always turn their heads when they call him by name.

- Inaccurate pronunciation and vague speech.

- When talking to people, it is customary to keep your eyes fixed on the speaker's mouth.

-Watch the video play a lot louder than ordinary people.

- Irritability of slapping, scratching of the ear, or itching of the ear, pus in the ear.

It should be noted that the performance of hearing loss in children is very different, if the child is suspected of hearing loss, the baby should be taken to the hospital as soon as possible for a routine ear examination and hearing examination to determine whether there is a hearing problem.

Who is responsible for hearing loss?

The causes of hearing loss in babies can be divided into congenital factors, the former is related to genetics, viral infections during pregnancy, preterm birth and other factors, and the latter is related to otitis media, misuse of drugs, ear trauma and other related factors.

1. Congenital factors

Congenital hearing loss is any hearing loss that is confirmed at birth or shortly after birth and may be hereditary or non-hereditary. The first 3 months of pregnancy are an important stage in the development of the fetus's hearing, at which time the auditory organs are fragile. If the mother suffers from a viral infection at this stage, such as rubella, herpes, mumps, etc., or suffers from toxoplasmosis infection, it is possible to have an effect on the hearing of the fetus.

At the same time, some commonly used drugs in the clinic may produce ototoxicity, causing the baby's hearing loss. There are hundreds of known ototoxic drugs, common aminoglycoside antibiotics (streptomycin, kanamycin, gentamicin, etc.), salicylic acid antipyretic analgesics (aspirin, etc.), loop diuretics (furosemide, diuretic acid, etc.), anticancer drugs (vincristine, cisplatin, etc.), especially aminoglycoside antibiotics. Therefore, the use of antibiotics in children must be cautious.

In addition, some congenital hearing loss caused by genetic mutations is heritable, such as GJB2 non-syndrome deafness, Usher syndrome and so on. Such children require genetic screening to determine the cause.

2. Otitis media

Acute otitis media is the most common childhood disease associated with conductive hearing loss. Before the age of 3, most children will experience at least 1 episode of acute otitis media. An attack of otitis media may lead to a fluid effusion in the middle ear cavity or even a perforation of the eardrum, affecting the conduction of sound and causing hearing loss.

Children's susceptibility to otitis media is mainly related to the relatively short and straight Eustachian tube in children. Our five senses are connected, the middle ear cavity is connected by the Eustachian tube and the pharynx, and the short and straight Eustachian tube can easily cause bacterial viruses to invade the middle ear and cause infection.

In addition, there are some risky behaviors in daily life that increase the risk of otitis media in children, which require special attention:

The mother is lying on her side to feed or the baby is lying down to feed, and the milk easily flows into the Eustachian tube, resulting in a middle ear infection. Therefore, babies who drink milk powder are best able to lean on the adult when drinking milk.

Blowing the nose is not in the right position. Some parents will pinch the nostrils on both sides of the baby to let the baby blow the nose, which can easily lead to high pressure in the nasal cavity and let the germs in the nose enter the middle ear.

Ear water after swimming or bathing, and incorrect ear plucking behavior. After the ear has entered the water, you should tilt your head towards the side of the ear where the water is entering, let the water flow out, and then gently wipe the external ear canal with a clean cotton swab.

Inhale second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke is not only easy to cause respiratory diseases in children, but also easy to cause obstruction of the Eustachian tube and the accumulation of fluid in the middle ear and inflammation.

3. Cerumen embolization of the external auditory canal

Cerumen, also known as "ear feces", is the most common cause of obstruction of the external auditory canal. Under normal circumstances, it plays a role in fighting harmful bacteria and preventing foreign bodies. However, excessive accumulation of cerumen may also cause hearing loss and ear tightness in children.

Cleaning up your baby's ear feces requires care, because the baby's external ear canal skin is delicate, or the baby is unwilling to cooperate, it is easy to damage the skin of the external ear canal and cause inflammation, and may even accidentally injure the eardrum and cause perforation. Studies have shown that in children under 12 years of age, trauma causes perforation of the eardrum, most commonly due to foreign bodies (especially cotton swabs). Therefore, if you find that the baby's ear feces accumulate more, it is recommended to go to the hospital for treatment.

4. Noise

Excessive exposure to noise for a long time may cause damage to a child's hearing. Generally for children, sound exceeding 60 decibels is harmful noise. The sound of cars passing on the road is between 60-80 decibels. Nowadays, many children like to wear headphones to listen to music and watch animations, which increases the risk of noise exposure.

Therefore, when using headphones, it is necessary to grasp two "60" principles:

Do not wear headphones for a long time, and the continuous use of headphones in one day should not exceed 60 minutes;

Do not exceed 60% of the maximum volume of the headphones.

What should I do if my child loses his hearing?

Common causes of hearing problems in children are too much ear feces blocking the external ear canal, or ear inflammation, etc., which can generally be recovered after active treatment. Among them, it should be noted that secretory otitis media in children is associated with adenoidal hypertrophy, allergic rhinitis sinusitis, and upper respiratory tract infections, so active treatment of nasal and nasopharyngeal diseases is also important for the prevention and treatment of secretory otitis media.

Children or adolescents who often wear headphones should pay attention if they feel that their hearing is not as sensitive as before, or if they feel that their ears are stuffy and clogged. Avoid continuous contact with noise, wear headphones for a long time, and use your ears scientifically.

For severe sensorineural hearing loss caused by genetic, pharmaceutical or other causes, it is recommended to follow up regularly to check the hearing, and to help children hear sounds with the help of artificial hearing, such as wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants.

There are also hearing loss caused by congenital developmental malformations of the ear, ear tumors and other causes, and the primary disease should be actively treated.

Finally, parents are reminded that if they suspect that their child has hearing problems, they should first go to the hospital for relevant examinations in time to clarify the cause and treat them according to different causes.

(Author Affilications: Fudan University Affiliated Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Mao Huanyu as a graduate student, Lu Xiaoling as an OTOL physician, Li Wenyan as a researcher and deputy chief physician)

Author: Mao Huanyu, Lu Xiaoling, Li Wenyan

Editor-in-charge: Tang Wenjia

*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.