Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/lbn-vkUlfL8 The earlier a deaf child regains sensitivity to sounds, the greater are the chances for that child to master spoken language.  Ear surgeons and audiologists at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital report their experience with 219 severely hearing-challenged children undergoing implantation of so-called bionic ears before 3 years of age. Of the group, some 39 infants received their cochlear implants before the age of 12 months.  These early implanted babies as a group tolerated the surgery well and showed spectacular progress with their language acquisition.   They developed the ability to understand spoken words one year earlier than children implanted after 18 to 24 months of age.  In contrast, children implanted after 2 years of age were less likely to completely master verbal language and required gestural or sign language. Every state now has universal hearing screening to promptly identify the 1 plus kids in 1000 with significant hearing loss.  The earlier a child’s h