auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder information

This might be after six months of age, depending on the development of the baby. Because professionals cannot rely on the auditory brainstem response test results as they would with other babies, the fitting of hearing aids may be delayed until further tests have been carried out when the child's hearing system is more developed. Hearing aids may be recommended to help improve a child's hearing to a level where they can hear quieter sounds. The child will need to be monitored closely as they grow up.īack to top Will my child be able to learn to speak?Īuditory neuropathy spectrum disorder will affect a child's ability to understand speech and is often worse than would be predicted by the level of hearing loss measured. A diagnosis of auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder warns professionals that a child may not act or respond as a typical deaf child. These unusual test results are creating new challenges for families and professionals working with these children. Sometimes the hearing loss can be progressive (get worse with time), and in some children their hearing has improved with time. For some children with this condition, their hearing problem will seem to change from time to time or their hearing will be better on some days than others.

The hearing loss measured (by hearing responses to sound) with this type of hearing problem varies greatly from child to child, from normal to profound hearing loss. For this reason, very young babies will have their tests repeated when their hearing system has had time to develop.Īlthough a child with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder is hearing something, it may be very distorted and difficult for the brain to make sense of. In some babies, particularly those born prematurely, the auditory nerve may not be fully developed and the results of the auditory brainstem response test will be poor because of this delay in development. The auditory brainstem response test measures the function of the auditory nerve. Very often, there will be no auditory brainstem response even though the child does respond to some sounds. However, when a child has auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder, the auditory brainstem response will not match the level at which the child responds to sounds. Usually the auditory brainstem response will closely match the levels at which a child responds to sound. This means that although the ear is picking up sound correctly, the hair cells within the cochlea or the hearing nerve itself may not be passing the sound on to the brain correctly. What does it mean if the tests show the cochlea's hair cells are working normally but the auditory brainstem response is not normal? These tests measure how well parts of the hearing system are working but they do not directly measure hearing itself. All of these tests are harmless and painless. A cochlea microphonic (CM) test also shows evidence of how the cochlea's hair cells are working. An 'auditory brainstem response' (ABR) measures the function of the auditory nerve and its connections in the lower part of the brain. What tests are used to diagnose auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder?Īn 'otoacoustic emissions' (OAE) test shows whether the outer hair cells of the cochlea are responding normally. The number of children affected by this condition is not yet fully known, but it is estimated that up to one in 10 profoundly deaf children have this condition. This means that the child may be hearing something, but this is probably very distorted. What is auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD)Īuditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (sometimes called auditory neuropathy or auditory dys-synchrony) are terms used to describe a particular type of hearing problem when sounds may be transmitted normally through the middle ear and the cochlea but then do not transmit normally from the cochlea, or along the auditory nerve. Hearing loss can be described as mild, moderate, severe or profound, depending on the level of the quietest sound a child can hear.

By combining the results of different hearing tests it is possible to find out which part of the hearing system is faulty. Sometimes a mixture of both conductive and sensorineural hearing loss can occur together. A sensorineural hearing loss occurs when the inner ear (the cochlea or hearing nerve) is not working as well as it should.A conductive hearing loss occurs when sound cannot pass from the outer ear to the inner ear (the cochlea and hearing nerve) due to a blockage or fault that prevents sound waves from moving through the ear.Hearing loss commonly falls into two categories - conductive or sensorineural. Hearing loss occurs when some part of the hearing system is not working as it should. Why does my child have auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder?.Will my child be able to learn to speak?.What tests are used to diagnose auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder?.

Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder information