Evaluating your child's hearing
Evaluating your child's hearing
Fluid may remain in the middle ear (serous otitis, or middle ear effusion) after an ear infection. This may not cause symptoms, or it may cause a muffling of sound, decreased hearing, and mild discomfort. The body usually reabsorbs fluid behind the eardrum within 2 to 4 months, and hearing returns to normal.
Hearing problems can be difficult to assess in children, especially in children age 3 and younger. The following may help you evaluate your child's hearing at age:
- Birth to 3 months.
- 4 to 6 months.
- 7 months to 1 year.
- 1 to 2 years.
- 2 to 4 years.
- 4 years and older.
After other symptoms of a cold or ear infection have cleared and your child is not responding to voices or sounds as he or she has in the past, consider the possibility of a hearing problem.
Credits
| Author | Jan Nissl, RN, BS |
| Editor | Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA |
| Associate Editor | Tracy Landauer |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics |
| Specialist Medical Reviewer | Donald R. Mintz, MD - Otolaryngology |
| Last Updated | February 13, 2008 |
| Last updated: | February 13, 2008 |
|---|---|
| Author: | Jan Nissl, RN, BS |
| Reviewed By: | Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics, Donald R. Mintz, MD - Otolaryngology |
| Editors: | Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Tracy Landauer |
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