Before entering to describe some of the most frequent causes of hearing impairments and see what types there are, we will see something as important as the hearing development in the baby.
Already before birth, the baby's auditory system is able to respond to the noises it hears, both within the mother's womb (for example, the mother's heartbeat) and to the external ones produced by the voice of the mother or others different sounds (such as music.)
As you see, Hearing in humans begins in the gestational period. In this way, the cochlea (which is a spiral-shaped tube-shaped structure that is located in the innermost part of the ear) works the same as that of an adult from the twentieth week of gestation. In addition, throughout the third trimester, the fetus is able to attach its head on the mother's pelvis, allowing her to recognize her voice.
Newborns will thus recognize their mother's voice, being able to differentiate it from that of the father quickly. Subsequently, throughout early childhood, the nervous system will mature and allow the nerve pathways and centers that will emit the auditory processes, gradually becoming specialized.
This specialization will lead the baby to receive the sound waves from the environment through the outer ear and middle ear, they can transform these auditory stimuli into the inner ear, turning the received mechanical vibration into a bioelectric signal that will arrive, usually to specialized areas of the left cerebral hemisphere, for processing through the auditory nerves.
For most children, hearing, as well as hemisphere and language, maintain a relationship that allows the integration of perceptual and symbolization processes. As we know, the brain is divided into two halves or hemispheres: left and right, and each of them shows certain characteristics.
The left hemisphere is responsible for the understanding and production of speech, while the right hemisphere is responsible for the so-called suprasegmental parameters of speech (such as tone, melody, stress or most auditory stimuli).
Therefore, the right ear has advantages over the left ear in terms of stimuli related to speech comprehension and production, while the left ear outperforms the right in melodic aspects, hue ...
Generally, when there is some type of hearing impairment, in addition to the decrease in the reception of the sound intensity, there are other effects that alter auditory aspects such as the reception of the bell, the tone, the spatial location of the sound or even the components of speech.
Children with hearing impairment often show difficulties in developing and managing language and speech, as well as in categorizing concepts, accessing learning processes, for understanding and using abstract aspects, managing written language (both reading and writing) or for memory mechanisms.
In general, when there are problems at the auditory level, there are difficulties for the development of cognitive skills, as a consequence of the restrictions caused by a sensory limitation (in this case, of the ear).
This is important since, from an early age, children who have hearing problems may have limited ability to understand the world around them and develop their skills, especially those related to language and social relationships.
As you can see, he hearing development in the baby It is a very important aspect because it depends on how you evolve, you may have more or less difficulties depending on what aspects of your daily life.
