About Infant Hearing Loss

Infant hearing loss is surprisingly common

Of every 1,000 children born in the United States, between one and three will have a hearing loss, and 90% of all children with hearing loss are born to hearing parents.

About Infant Hearing Loss

The sense of hearing

The sense of hearing is stimulated in the womb, much the way it is after a baby is born. Babies are bathed in the sound of the rhythms and melodies of their mother’s language months before birth. And infants’ brains are brilliantly designed to master the complexities of language by sheer immersion in sound within just a few years. This is a critical time period for brain development.

Limitless possibilities for children with hearing loss

Testing and Early Intervention

Until the mid-1990s, children were often two years old before their hearing loss was diagnosed. Now, thanks to universal newborn hearing screening, hospital staff can identify hearing loss even in infants just days old. For infants who are deaf or hard of hearing, early intervention makes all the difference. Infants don’t talk – but they do listen and learn.

Brain Development

A newborn’s brain, including the auditory brain where sound is processed, grows new neurons and pathways by the billion in the months after birth. Long before a child is actually speaking – the critical period seems to be the first six months – the auditory brain is busily building the language centers the child will need for life.

What’s Possible?

Today, thanks to early detection, hearing technology and education at listening and spoken language schools like Clarke, children who are deaf or hard of hearing are enjoying the same opportunities as their peers with typical hearing. And many children who attend Clarke’s Preschool Programs head off to their mainstream neighborhood schools by kindergarten.

Clarke is committed to helping children who are deaf or hard of hearing reach their full potential.

Our goal is to provide parents with the tools they need to understand their child’s hearing loss, make informed choices about educational options and find the path that is right for their family.

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