Blog

Good hearing is an important part of speech and language development as well as academic achievement and social confidence. Children and teens with hearing loss may struggle in school or have difficulty with communication, which can stress personal relationships and self-esteem.

Due to increased hearing screening over the last decade, many newborn infants now have their hearing evaluated shortly after birth and hearing screening in preschools and elementary schools is also common. Less common, however, is hearing screening for older children and teens.

Older children and teens may be at risk of noise-related hearing loss – hearing loss caused by listening to loud noise for long periods of time (for example: loud music). In a 2011 NPCH Report about hearing loss in teens, we found that the majority of parents had not discussed noise-related hearing loss with their teens. Read the full report - Silent risk: Most parents and teens not talking about noise-induced hearing loss.

We asked parents across the country for their perspectives about the ages when children and teens should be screened for hearing loss and where they think the hearing screening should take place. The results of this Poll will be released early next week. Sign up for our e-mail list to receive the report as soon as it’s published!

Update: December 10, 2012

The National Poll on Children's Health Report about hearing screening for children and teens has now been released. Follow the link below to read the full report!

• Parents loud and clear: Test teens and tweens for hearing loss, too