Risk factor | Comments and examples |
Parent/caregiver concerns regarding hearing | - Parents/caregivers concerns that may raise suspicion for hearing loss in the child include:
- Erratic response or inattention to sound
- Delayed or abnormal speech and language development
- Other developmental concerns
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Family history of permanent childhood hearing loss | - A positive family history places the child at increased risk
- However, many children with genetic hearing loss do not have affected relatives because genetic hearing loss often has an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern
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NICU graduate | - Important risk factors for hearing loss among NICU graduates include:
- NICU stay ≥5 days
- Very low birth weight (<1500 g)
- Perinatal asphyxia and neonatal encephalopathy
- Requiring mechanical ventilation or ECMO
- Requiring exchange transfusion for hyperbilirubinemia
- Congenital and neonatal infections (refer to separate category below)
- Exposure to ototoxic drugs (refer to separate category below)
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Infections |
| - Examples include:
- CMV (most common infectious cause)
- Zika virus
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| - Bacterial meningitis
- Encephalitis
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- Chronic or recurrent ear infections (AOM and OME)
| - AOM and OME are associated with conductive hearing loss
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Ototoxic drug exposure | - Examples include:
- Chemotherapy (eg, cisplatin)
- Aminoglycosides (particularly with chronic exposure)
- Loop diuretics (particularly when used in early infancy)
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Head trauma | - Particularly basal skull and temporal bone fractures
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Syndromes associated with hearing loss* | - Numerous genetic syndromes (well over 100) are associated with early hearing loss*
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Craniofacial or ear malformations | - Examples include:
- Cleft lip and/or palate
- Anomalies of temporal bone
- Congenital microcephaly
- Microtia or ear dysplasia
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Chronic exposure to loud noises | - Particularly if the exposure occurs over extended periods of time and at high volume
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