Hearing and technology

Research shows that when a baby is born with a hearing loss, early intervention before six months of age gives them the best chance of developing good communication and language skills. Fitting hearing aids to babies diagnosed with a hearing loss is often the first step in this early intervention process.

The aim is for your baby to wear their hearing aids during their waking hours. However, a baby's response to sound is affected by their age, stage of development and degree of hearing loss and it can be difficult to tell whether hearing aids are working in a baby with a hearing loss. Don't get despondent. In time, you will learn to recognise your baby's responses to sound.

Parents soon learn to put in the hearing aids quickly and easily although keeping them in can be a challenge for a while!

• Signs of hearing in babies
• Using hearing aids with babies aged 0-6 months
• Using hearing aids with babies over 6 months
• Babies with a possible mild hearing loss
• Your baby has a mild hearing loss - What's the next step?
• Your baby has a unilateral hearing loss - What's the next step?