Five-year-old Elyse is just like any other pre-schooler.
Yet mum Kylie, a part-time primary school teacher, said Elyse’s bubbly nature and loud persona almost meant that her hearing loss went undetected.
It wasn’t until they discovered Sound Scouts, the new game app to detect hearing problems in children, that they were able to help Elyse fulfil her potential and overcome her difficulties, just in time for starting school.
Kylie noticed that Elyse was mispronouncing words, especially those starting with an ‘h’ sound (which is a low sound for the human ear to detect), and she wasn’t developing as her older sister Abbey had done previously.
Sure enough, Elyse was shown to have hearing issues following the completion of the Sound Scouts game.
Elyse was referred to Australian Hearing, who confirmed that she had mild conductive hearing loss, which is caused by a blockage or damage in the outer and/or middle ear.
Kylie said that it was at this point that guilt set in for her as a parent.
“I felt so guilty that I hadn’t picked up on her having hearing issues sooner. We just thought she had a loud personality, we didn’t realise she couldn’t hear properly,” she said.
“If I hadn’t given Sound Scouts a try, I still may not have gone down this path and would have just considered her a late developer or just defiant in nature. I shudder to think how much she would have missed out on at school, both socially and academically if I hadn’t downloaded the app.”
Sound Scouts can also be used to pick up Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), an umbrella term for a variety of disorders that result in a breakdown in the hearing process.
In short, our brain cannot make sense of what our ears hear because the auditory signal is distorted in some way.
As a result, one of the biggest problems experienced by individuals with CAPD is difficulty listening in background noise.
A number of central auditory processing tests can be used to assess CAPD.
Australian Hearing focuses on identifying auditory deficits that are likely to lead to listening difficulties and poorer performance in the classroom.
This includes how well children hear background noise.
If a child is assessed as having a deficit that is causing learning difficulty, your clinician will discuss the most appropriate option with you based on your child’s test results.
If you would like more information or advice, contact your local Australian Hearing centre.
