Why speech delay may signal hearing problems for your child

When a child is slow to talk, the first instinct for most parents is always to wait it out; however, specialists at the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital (PGH) warn against this.

They note that speech delay is one of the presentations of a hearing problem, and a child who is not at par with their peers in terms of speech needs a proper evaluation, which starts with a hearing test.

Dr Michael Sitima, a consultant ENT and subspecialist ear surgeon, says hearing is one of the most neglected senses precisely because its loss cannot be seen and dubs it an ‘invisible disability’.

That stigma, he observes, is compounded by the fact that communities often cannot tell when a child has a hearing problem at all, and so they do not act. One of the clearest signs, Dr Sitima says, is speech.

“Speech delay is one of the presentations of a hearing problem,” he explains. “Any child who is not at par with their peers in terms of speech needs a proper evaluation, and it starts with a hearing test.”

Additionally, Dr Sitima emphasizes that this year the focus is on children. He insists that every child needs to hear properly, so that they can grow properly, so that they can attend school, learn, perform well, and become productive members of society.

So much so that he insists that an ear discharge is an abnormal thing in childhood and even adulthood.

“There is no normal discharge from the ear,” he says. “Any discharge from the ear is abnormal - all children, all people who are discharging anything from the ear should see a doctor.”

He adds that some communities believe ear discharge is a normal part of childhood, a misconception he is keen to correct.

“We have hearing tests across the lifespan, from newborns all the way to the very elderly. We can test their hearing, and we have solutions across the lifespan,” says Dr Sitima.

Dr Austine Oywer, an ENT surgeon at PGH, agrees with his colleague, noting that they have observed that the delay in speech has a social and economic impact on affected families.

“Our interventions now include catching this early while the children are still in school before they become adults so that they're able to develop their speech early and they're able to learn well because we've also noticed patients who have difficulty hearing have a difficult time also socializing,” he notes adding that they become secluded and it also has a heavy financial or socioeconomic impact on their families.

He further states that there is going to be an ENT camp where ear surgeries will be performed and covered under SHA, more so for those with ear discharge and other ear diseases.

“We would like to tell members of the public that having an ear discharge is not normal. Anyone who has discharge from the ear should be seen by a qualified ENT. Anyone who has hearing loss should ideally be seen because sometimes the causes of hearing loss are reversible,” says Dr Oywer.

He warns that putting things in the ears, for instance, folk remedies (home) like using oil from a chicken to clear ear infections usually don't help and can sometimes cause more harm, which can cause further loss of hearing.