Deafness
Of approximately 1,000 children referred for developmental delays (not for suspected hearing loss), 46 had permanent hearing loss. This number did not include children with transient hearing loss due to middle ear disease. Most alarming, severe to profound bilateral congenital hearing loss in 18 children was not diagnosed until an average age of 24 months. The author discusses how a significant moderate to severe hearing loss can go unnoticed during a screening physical examination. More than half the children, however, had a physical finding or events in the history suggesting a risk of hearing loss.
Comment: Audiometry should be done on all children with (1) language delay at any time from birth on, using a recognized system of milestone checks to assess language;
