Barrier-free of hearing in infancy

Abstract

Audition is one of the most important sensations as well as vision, and is playing a main role for the verbal communication. Especially, the auditory environment of infancy has significant effects on development of verbal ability. For instance, shortage of auditory inputs in infancy sometimes leads to an insufficient ability of speech production. On the other hand, hearing tests and auditory prostheses for infants, different from those for adults, need special technique. In this paper, we will introduce screening tests for hearing acuity of new-born babies and auditory prostheses (cochlear implant and hearing aids) for infants.