Each year, about 800 babies are born with hearing impairment in Taiwan, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said on Monday.
Newborns usually receive a hearing screening within 24 hours of birth, and those with impairment would be referred to treatment and intervention services, it said.
An infant, identified by the pseudonym Hsiao-li (小立), who was born in spring this year, underwent a hearing screening on the second day after birth, but failed two tests before being discharged from the hospital, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan Public Health Bureau
Following further examination, Hsiao-li was diagnosed with hearing loss.
Hsiao-li’s mother said that the diagnosis was a big blow to her, but she sought treatment for her child, and Hsiao-li began wearing hearing aids at three weeks old.
Hsiao-li started receiving hearing loss intervention courses at six months old.
The mother said that when her child first heard a sound, they opened their eyes wide, smiled and made an “ah” sound, and she shed tears of joy.
“I’m so glad that we received the hearing screening and were able to help Hsiao-li as early as possible,” she said.
HPA Maternal and Child Health Division chief physician Hu I-chun (胡怡君) said if children with congenital hearing loss are diagnosed early in life, and receive speech and language therapy, they can have normal physical and mental development.
This way, they can develop their language and social skills, which would be beneficial to them in school life, Hu said.
If they miss the critical treatment period, they might have speech delay and encounter learning difficulties, and it might even affect their emotions and social skills, she said.
Since the HPA began offering publicly funded hearing screening services to children younger than three months, the coverage rate has been above 90 percent, one of the highest in the world, she said.
Children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment do not always have obvious speech problems, and can be easily neglected, so hearing screenings for newborns are very important, especially if they are in the high-risk groups, she said.
High-risk groups include those who have a family history of hearing impairment; those who were born premature, weigh less than 1.5kg, lack enough oxygen circulating in the brain, or have bacterial meningitis or congenital malformation; and cases in which the expectant mother contracted Rubella or other viral diseases in the first stage of pregnancy, or had used ototoxic drugs, she added.
The HPA said 260 healthcare facilities across the nation offer the newborn hearing screening service, and 66 of them also have further examination for hearing loss or impairment diagnosis.
However, even if a newborn passes the screening, it does not guarantee that the child’s hearing development would always be normal, as in some cases, children could develop progressive hearing loss or have hearing issues caused by otitis media, injuries or meningitis, it added.
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