Don't let it be too late
After more than a year of living in a foreign land, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien (residing in Lang Son) returned home with the excitement of meeting his first son. The boy was born while he was working in the South, and due to difficult economic circumstances, it was not until now that he was able to visit his wife and children.
However, the joy of gathering was quickly replaced by anxiety. The 17-month-old son is cute, laughs often, and eats well. However, when it reached the stage where the children started chatting and smiling when their parents called, the child did not react.
Mr. Tien's wife shared: Because the child is still developing at important milestones such as "3 months of knowing the worms, 7 months of knowing the cows, 9 months of knowing the fields", the family is not very skeptical, just thinking that the child is simply slower to speak than his peers.
It was only when the child passed the age of one that the child's unusually quietness made the family worried. However, the whole family still thinks that the child is just slow to speak, not necessarily thinking about the possibility of the child having hearing problems. When they took their child to Hanoi to check, the whole family was stunned: the child was deaf in both ears.
After being consulted by a doctor, the family knew that they could only help their child hear through electronic ear snail culture surgery and had to do it as soon as possible. Nearly a month later, the child began to hear the first sounds.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hoai An - Director of An Viet General Hospital said that currently, many children in big cities are screened for hearing screening right after birth. However, in remote areas, this work is still left unused, leading to late detection of hearing loss, seriously affecting the development of children.
Children with hearing loss often have a completely normal appearance, so they are easily overlooked. Early screening will help detect, diagnose and intervene promptly, especially during the stage of language formation" - Associate Professor An said.
Bringing back sound for children
Currently, 1 in 3 children born deaf - a serious disability that affects hearing, speaking and language development. Children with severe deafness often cannot receive sound, which can easily lead to deafness and make it difficult to integrate into society.
Electronic ear snails are the most advanced treatment method today, helping to transmit sound to the inner ear, stimulate auditory nerves and send signals to the brain, replacing the function of damaged hair cells. Thanks to that, children can listen, learn to speak and develop normally.
According to Associate Professor Hoai An, currently medicine has an advanced treatment method of electronic ear snails culture - a device that helps convert sound into electrical signals and transmit to the ear snail nerve. This is a highly effective solution, however, the cost of surgery and equipment is not small.
Many children after ear snails have been planted and can hear, speak clearly, develop normally, and even communicate well in both Vietnamese and English. This not only helps children integrate but also completely changes the future of children Dr. Nguyen Thi Hoai An shared.
If children with hearing loss are not detected and treated early, they are at high risk of being slow to speak, deaf, affecting their learning, communication and intellectual development. On the contrary, if intervention is at the right time, the opportunity to listen, speak and integrate into the community is completely feasible. The golden time for planting is before 3 years old - the stage when the hearing center develops most strongly. After surgery, children need long-term language intervention and persistent family support to restore communication skills.
