Is it possible to treat a child's impaired auditory nerve? How does that work? The answer and other information in this article.
A hearing disorder known as auditory nerve impairment occurs when the inner ear can hear but has trouble communicating that information to the brain. The patient is able to hear the sound, but they have trouble understanding spoken words. Learn about the causes and methods of treating auditory nerve impairment in this article:
Treatment of auditory nerve impairment in children
Although there is no clear treatment for auditory nerve impairment, hearing aids may help children with auditory nerve impairment to understand sounds and improve their language skills. It's critical to maintain regular contact with a speech therapist in order for hearing aids to be successful and beneficial.
The following are some examples of hearing aids that are effective in treating auditory nerve impairment:
- Frequency modulation-FM
By amplifying the speaker's voice and reducing background noise, this device helps the child understand.
- Hearing aid
When used with a frequency modulator, this device amplifies the sound that enters the ear, but using it alone may not be helpful for a child with auditory nerve impairment because it makes the uncontrolled sound louder.
- Cochlear implant
It is a device made to replace the ear's malfunctioning parts; some parts are surgically implanted inside the skull, while other parts are worn on the outside in the back of the ear. The affected child can improve their hearing and speaking skills with therapy and instruction.
This option is not used directly because, in addition to the requirement that children have tried the earlier devices and not benefited from them, it cannot be used until they are at least one year old.
Causes of auditory nerve impairment in children
We will discuss some of the causes contributing to this issue after becoming familiar with the techniques for treating the auditory nerve in children.
We list the following among the factors contributing to the issue of auditory nerve weakness:
- Damage to inner hair cells: These cells are specialized sensory cells found in the inner ear that transmit information about sounds to the brain via the nervous system.
- Damage to auditory neurons: These cells transmit sound information from the inner hair cells to the brain.
- Other reasons: These reasons may include heredity or damage to the auditory system, as both lead to a defect in communication between the inner hair cells and the auditory nerve, or damage to the auditory nerve itself.
Risk factors for auditory nerve impairment
The risk of hearing loss can be affected by a number of factors, including:
- premature birth
- head trauma
- Jaundice in newborns.
- Low weight of the baby at birth.
- Lack of oxygen at birth.
Information that may interest you about auditory nerve impairment
After learning the causes and remedies for auditory nerve impairment, we'll discuss some crucial details pertaining to this issue.
The most crucial of which is that a child passing a newborn hearing test does not necessarily mean that he does not have an auditory nerve disease, as hearing issues may not be discovered until after some time has passed and certain symptoms have appeared, such as:
- Do not surprise the child when there is a loud noise and do not pay attention to it.
- A child reaches the age of eight months without babbling, laughing, or even being surprised.
- The child does not try to imitate the sounds surrounding him and does not respond to simple commands, even when he reaches one year.
- Speech delay relative to the age of the child.
- Hearing loss, as the problem of auditory nerve weakness may lead to hearing loss in some cases.