Dr. Lewis First (Provided photo)

Parents have been asking me an earful of questions about how often to screen their infants, children and teenagers for hearing problems.

Well let me see if I can make some noise on this important topic.

Every year an estimated 6,000 babies are born in the United States with abnormal hearing. Screenings are a key step in identifying those children so interventions can get started to enable them to get the help they need to develop their communication and language skills.

This is why a baby’s first hearing test is done in the first one to two days after birth.

But even if hearing is normal at the initial screen, it can still be diminished as a child gets older. This can be caused by frequent ear infections, some medications such as certain antibiotics or chemotherapeutic drugs, a family history of progressive hearing loss, head injuries, exposure to loud noises at concerts or simply playing music loud through headphones or ear buds.

Even exposure to secondhand smoke can diminish a child’s hearing. That is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all school age children and teens have their hearing checked at most annual checkups so a hearing loss can be identified as early as possible.

Your child’s health care professional’s office is likely set up to do the hearing testing when you bring your child for their annual routine check-up.

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What are some signs that hearing may be an issue?

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For infants, it may be that they will not be startled at loud noises by a month of age or not turn toward sounds by three to four months of age.

They may not be saying single words such as “dada” or “mama” at 12-15 months, not have at least 5-10 words by 18 months, not be able to put two to three words together by two years or not have their speech be understandable at least 50% of the time by the time they are 2 1/2.

Children with hearing loss may not respond to your calling them and not notice you until they see you.

They may not be interested in your reading to them, or for older children – they may want the music or TV volume turned up louder than other family members.

If your infant, child, or teen is found to have a significant hearing loss, a referral to a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist also known as an otolaryngologist or a referral to a hearing specialist or audiologist will be needed to further diagnose and treat the problem, along with often a visit to a geneticist to see if there is a hereditary cause for the hearing loss.

Hopefully, tips like these will be easy on your ears when it comes to recognizing why routine hearing screening is so important when it comes to your infant, child, or teen hearing well.

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Lewis First, MD, is Chief of Pediatrics at The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. You can also catch “First with Kids” weekly on WOKO 98.9FM and NBC5.