Wyoming EHDI

General Risk Factors

The following are Risk Factors often associated with infant and childhood hearing loss.  If one or more of the items below apply, your child may be at risk for hearing loss.  If you have questions regarding any of these risk factors or feel your child is at risk for hearing loss, contact your child’s physician, the EHDI Program, or your local Child Development Center for more information and to have your child’s hearing screened.

• Family history of children with hearing loss.
• Head, face, or ears may be shaped or formed in a different way   than usual.
• Bad injury to the head (that needed medical care).
• Ear infections with fluid that last more than four months.
• Spent 48 hours or more in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
• Has a neurological disorder that is associated with hearing loss. (Check with your health care provider).
• Exposed to infection before birth.
• Infection around the brain and spinal cord caused by bacterial (Bacterial Meningitis).
• Bad jaundice (Hyperbilirubinemia) in babies that needed a special procedure (Exchange Transfusion).
• You are worried about your child’s hearing.