Children’s Hearing Specialists North Texas Trusts

We expect the elderly to experience a hearing loss due to age deterioration, but children can also develop a hearing loss that can drastically affect their development.
Pediatric hearing specialist inspecting boy's ear with otoscope

When a child does not hear well, the capacity to develop speech and language skills becomes limited, causing learning disabilities and poor socialization. Several of the members of our team are also parents, so we fully understand that nothing is more important than the healthy growth and development of our children.

If you suspect that your child might be experiencing a hearing loss, you might be asking, “Is there a children’s hearing specialist near me?

Fortunately, there is. Denton Hearing Health Care offers pediatric audiological care from birth until adulthood for patients throughout North Texas, which includes newborn hearing screenings, children’s hearing exams, hearing aids for children of all ages, hearing aid fittings, rehabilitative services, and speech therapy.

Our approach to pediatric audiology is designed to be friendly, welcoming, and relaxing for you and your child.

Indicators That Your Child Could Be Experiencing a Hearing Loss

To help identify hearing loss in your child, you should consider the following questions:
  • Does your child get frequent colds and ear infections?
  • Does your child not understand people without facing them?
  • Does your child speak loudly, as if having trouble hearing himself/herself?
  • Does your child always turn up the volume on the TV or radio?
  • Does your child often not respond when called?
  • Does your child need to have things repeated?
  • Is there a history of hearing loss in your family?
  • Was your child born prematurely? (sooner than 37 weeks)
  • Did your child have a low birth weight?
  • Did your child experience a lack of oxygen at birth?

Answering yes to any or several of these questions could indicate that your child could be experiencing a hearing loss. Early detection and treatment are a must because difficulties with speech and language, impaired social emotional development, and reduced academic performance are major consequences associated with hearing loss in children.

A young child during hearing screening

What Are the Common Causes of Hearing Loss in Children?

Otitis Media
Congenital Hearing Loss
An Acquired Hearing Loss

Otitis media is the most common cause of childhood hearing loss, which involves inflammation of the middle ear, just behind the eardrum and often into the Eustachian tube between the middle ear and the back of the throat.

Since the Eustachian tube in children is smaller and less angled than it is in adults, it is easily blocked, causing fluid buildup that can lead to “conductive” hearing loss. Infectious otitis media is often easier to detect, as symptoms typically include an earache and fever.

Treatment for otitis media, which sometimes includes the insertion of tubes to help with drainage, should happen as early as possible in order to prevent permanent damage to your child’s hearing.

Most fetuses have already developed their hearing at around 16 weeks in the womb, but some babies are born with congenital hearing loss. These developmental problems are often inherited, accounting for 50% or more of congenital hearing loss cases.

Congenital hearing loss can also be associated with prenatal infections, illnesses, and toxins consumed by the mother during pregnancy as well as an infection within the womb, premature birth, gestational diabetes, toxemia during pregnancy, and a lack of oxygen (anoxia).

Newborn hearing screenings help identify congenital hearing loss early, making it possible to limit the effects of hearing loss and maximize auditory function for children with a hearing loss.

An acquired hearing loss is a hearing impairment that shows up after birth. Risk factors for acquired hearing loss typically include frequent ear infections, ototoxic drugs known to affect hearing, meningitis, measles, encephalitis, chickenpox, influenza, mumps, head injuries, and frequent or ongoing exposure to loud noise.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) deserves special attention because it is among the primary causes of acquired hearing loss in children and because it is usually preventable. Many of the cases of NIHL are caused by the use of headphones and earbuds used to play video games and an endless stream of media via smartphones, which have the capacity to pump damaging sound at an excessive volume directly into your child’s ears.

Monitoring the volume on your child’s earphones and earbuds, ensuring that your child wears hearing protection when exposed to noise from lawn and garden equipment, concerts and sporting events, motorcycles, and snowmobiles, or while participating in shooting sports or hunting, is a proactive step toward limiting or avoiding acquired hearing loss.

Preparing for Child Hearing Test

For a child or infant diagnostic hearing exam, your baby should be tired and hungry so that the parent can feed the infant during the exam.

This helps make things go a lot smoother. Avoid using hair gels, lotions, or earrings on your child on the day of testing, which may include:

Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE)

Your baby’s audiologist will insert a tiny probe that emits a series of sounds just at the entrance to your baby’s ear canal.

DPOAEs are distorted sounds generated by the cochlea’s outer hair cells in response to two tones that are close in frequency.

The presence of a DPOAE response is an indication that the cochlear amplifier is functioning properly.

Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR)

Imagine a pair of tiny headphones that will fit into your baby’s ear canals. That’s what your audiologist will use, along with an array of electrodes placed on his/her scalp. As your baby listens to the transmitted sounds, the ABR system will measure auditory neurosychrony. If the auditory neurosychrony is abnormal, this would be an indicator of hearing problems.

Older children, usually four years old and above, will have a comprehensive hearing assessment that is similar to an adult evaluation, including:

  • Tympanometry
  • Pure Tone Testing
  • Speech Understanding
  • Bone Conduction Testing

Jefferson López's hearing story

“I had a great experience with Denton Hearing Health Care.”

I had a great experience with Denton Hearing Health Care. I would rate it 10 out of 10. I remember the moment I first realized I might have a hearing problem: I was watching TV with my family.
Before contacting Denton Hearing Health Care, I did not have any preconceived fears or concerns. I told myself that everything would be fine.
When I first visited Denton Hearing Health Care, I was impressed by the caring staff. Hearing aids have had a wonderful impact on my life. If anyone is concerned about their hearing and is considering Denton Hearing Health Care, I would recommend that they take this important step.

Tuve una gran experiencia con Denton Hearing Health Care. Lo calificaría con un 10 de 10. Recuerdo el momento en que me di cuenta por primera vez de que podía tener un problema de audición: estaba viendo la televisión con mi familia.
Antes de contactar con Denton Hearing Health Care, no tenía ningún temor o preocupación preconcebidos. Me dije a mí mismo que todo estaría bien.
Cuando visité Denton Hearing Health Care por primera vez, quedé impresionado por el personal atento. Los audífonos han tenido un impacto maravilloso en mi vida. Si alguien está preocupado por su audición y está considerando Denton Hearing Health Care, recomendaría que dieran este paso importante.

Jefferson López

Treatment Solutions for Children’s Hearing Loss

Solutions and ongoing guidance along with early intervention from the state, parent/pupil teams, speech/language intervention, and hearing aid options are all a part of hearing loss treatment for children available at Denton Hearing Health Care.

Our pediatric audiology specialists will put together an early intervention plan ASAP. It will include input from your child’s pediatrician, audiologist, otolaryngologist, and/or speech/language pathologist. This team of specialists will help guide your decisions regarding various treatments and/or devices capable of providing the best outcomes based on the type and degree of hearing loss and might include:

  • Counseling for children with a hearing loss and their families.
  • Professionals who teach communication techniques to families and children with a hearing loss.
  • Fitting with a hearing device, such as a hearing aid for kids or a cochlear implant
  • Family support groups.
  • Networking and communication among families who have children with a hearing loss.
A girl smiling in a hearing center during her pediatric appointment

What Our Delighted Patients Say

Frequently Asked Questions about Hearing Loss in Infants and Children

Q. Does my child need to have regular hearing assessments?

A. Pediatricians generally begin well-check screenings at age 4 years. School-based screenings begin in kindergarten and occur every other year until 8th grade.

Q. How can I help protect my child’s hearing?

A. Provide ear protection for children engaging in any noise activities and monitor volume levels on personal listening devices that use earbuds or earphones.

Q. How do I address my child’s hearing challenges with caregivers and teachers?

A. Be the child’s advocate with the schools. It is essential to have documentation of these issues with an evaluation from our audiologists to coordinate caregiver planning.

Q. How can I help my child understand the hearing challenges he/she is facing?

A. Our audiologists use many tools to counsel parents on the hearing status of their children and educate parents on how to help their children understand it better.

Q. What should I do if I’m concerned about my child’s hearing or communication challenges?

A. Make an appointment with one of our doctors of audiology. We can evaluate all children via subjective or objective measures at any age and then begin the necessary interventions to ensure proper development, better performance in school, and adequate social integration.

Schedule a Children’s Hearing Assessment

Addressing the critical issues of hearing loss in children is a race against the clock because early detection leads to the best intervention outcomes. Our pediatric audiologists at Denton Hearing Health Care have the knowledge, experience, and equipment to provide an accurate diagnosis of your child’s hearing loss as well as a broad range of treatment options to help limit the impact it has on your child’s development.

Contact us by completing and submitting the adjacent form and a member of our team will return your call in order to help you schedule a child hearing test with our pediatric audiology specialist.

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Local People Share Their Stories

“I had a great experience with Denton Hearing Health Care. I would rate it 10 out of 10.”

“Professional people that are knowledgeable, friendly, service oriented.”
“Make an appointment so they can help you enjoy a better quality of life!”

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