Development of Hearing and Listening through life

Birth – 3 months old:

  • ‘Startle’ and ‘freezing’ reflexes to loud sounds
  • Not able to localise (turn toward) sound
  • May be aroused from sleep by loud sounds
  • Vocalisations, including cooing and gurgling, commence

4 – 7 months old:

  • Localisation of sound begins to develop
  • Starts to take more interest in sounds, e.g. noisy toys and voices
  • Vocalisations become more frequent and more tuneful

8 – 12 months old:

  • Increasingly competent localisation of sounds in different directions
  • Increasing general responsiveness to everyday sounds
  • Begins to babble in strings of syllables e.g. ‘mumumum’, ‘dadadad’
  • May start to imitate playful sounds
  • Knows and turns to own name

12 – 18 months:

  • Will alert to quiet, meaningful sounds, but may soon become bored
  • Turns to voices appropriately
  • Begins to obey simple instructions
  • Starts to use first words

18 – 30 months:

  • Listening behaviour and speech provide a good indicator of hearing
  • Begins to put words together in short sentences from around 20 months

If you feel your child is not developing in the above fashion please contact us to make an appointment. We have the facilities to test children 6 months and older.