How Hearing Aids Can Help Your Child

Hearing and your child’s development

Hearing plays a large role in your child’s development. How your child learns, speaks, and understands language depends on their ability to hear. That’s why it’s important to help your child make the most of the hearing that they have.

Hearing aids can help your child enjoy life more by improving his or her ability to hear.

What hearing aids can do

Hearing aids can help your child:

• Hear and understand speech better in many situations

• Hear certain speech sounds more clearly

• Better locate where sounds are coming from

• Be more aware of sounds for safety reasons. An example is to hear a car coming.

Hearing aids help your child develop their language and speech skills. They also help make communicating and socializing easier. But what hearing aids can’t do is fully restore normal hearing. Keep in mind that your child may need to use other methods to hear and communicate. These can include assistive listening devices and lip reading (speech reading).

Paying for hearing aids

Public or government programs may cover the cost of hearing aids. For instance, Medicaid can give assistance to financially qualified families. If you are worried about how you will pay for your child’s hearing aids, talk to your child’s healthcare team. They can help point you in the right direction. Hearing aids should never be bought over the Internet or through mail order.

To learn more

Online resources you may find helpful include:

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association at www.asha.org/public

• American Academy of Audiology at www.howsyourhearing.org

• Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at www.agbell.org

• My Baby's Hearing at www.babyhearing.org

• Hands & Voices at www.handsandvoices.org