What are some things that could put my child 'at risk' for having a hearing loss?

There are a number of risk factors for hearing loss in children. Therefore, there are a number of special reasons why a child’s hearing may need to be evaluated. Common indications for a hearing evaluation include:

• Speech/language delay

• Parental concern

• Frequent/recurrent ear infections

• A family history of hearing loss

• Syndromes known to be associated with hearing loss (for example, Down syndrome, the CHARGE syndrome, and Crouzons syndrome)

• Infectious diseases that cause hearing loss (for example, meningitis, measles and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection)
• Medical treatments that may have hearing loss as a side effect, including some antibiotics and some chemotherapy agents.

• Poor school performance

• Diagnosis of a learning disability or other disorder, such as autism or pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)

• In addition, the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy and birth may be relevant to hearing loss. If there is a history that includes any of the following, a child should have a hearing assessment.

• Low birth weight (less than 2 lbs) and/or prematurity

• Assisted ventilation (to help with breathing for more than 10 days after birth)

• Low Apgar scores (numbers assigned at birth that reflect the newborn’s health status)

• Severe jaundice after birth/hyperbilirubenimia 

• Maternal illness during pregnancy (for example, German measles (rubella)) 

• Hydrocephalus 

Some parents start to suspect that their child cannot hear normally because the child does not respond to his or her name consistently or asks for words, phrases or sentences to be repeated. Another clue can be that the child does not seem to be paying attention to sounds or to what is being said.


Only half of all children diagnosed with a hearing loss actually have a known risk factor for hearing loss. This means that the cause is never known in about half of children with hearing loss. For this reason, many states in the US have instituted a universal hearing screen so that all babies have their hearing screened before they go home from the newborn nursery. FLORIDA is one of these states