Hearing
Unless your baby has a hearing impairment, he can hear even before birth. As he grows, he'll use his ears to take in massive amounts of information about the world around him, which will in turn stimulate brain development and lead to physical accomplishments such as sitting, rolling over, crawling, and walking.
When it develops
Your baby's hearing will be fully mature by the end of his first month, although understanding and appreciating all the things he's hearing will take a little longer.
How it develops
From the get-go, your baby will pay close attention to voices, especially high-pitched ones. He'll respond to familiar sounds (you or your partner talking or reading a favorite story, for example). He's also likely to startle at loud or unexpected noises.
By 3 months, your baby's temporal lobe — a part of the brain that helps with hearing, language, and smell — will have become more receptive and active, so when he hears your voice, he may look directly at you and start gurgling or trying to talk back. Don't worry if he sometimes looks away while you're talking or reading to him, but do tell his doctor if he doesn't seem to respond to your voice at all.
At 5 months, your baby will be able to determine where sounds come from, and he'll turn quickly toward new ones. He can also recognize his name. Notice how he looks at you when you call him or talk about him.
What's next
Your baby's hearing is fully developed when he's very young, but it's important to identify problems early on so you can nip them in the bud. Your baby's hearing will be tested at his newborn screening. After that, be sure to tell your pediatrician if you have any concerns. She may refer you to an audiologist for a hearing test.
Your role
There are many ways to expose your baby to new sounds. Sing nursery rhymes and play music, for starters. Choose perennial children's favorites such as Raffi or Peter, Paul, and Mary. Or pop in your own favorite, whether it's The Beatles or Russian opera.
The sound of wind chimes or a ticking clock is also likely to engage your baby. As he develops preferences, you'll see him react with more pleasure to some sounds than others.
Reading to your child, no matter how young he is, will pay off. Listening to you read helps your child develop an ear for the cadence of language — in fact, varying the pitch of your voice, using accents, singing, and vocalizing makes the aural connection between you and your baby that much more stimulating. Plus, the more you talk and read to him, the more sounds and words he learns as he gets ready to talk.
As your baby gets older and begins to realize where sounds come from, he will turn quickly toward new ones. One of the easiest ways to amuse a baby is to jingle a set of keys. Once he's 4 or 5 months old, he may start watching your mouth intently when you speak. He may even try to imitate inflections and utter consonant sounds such as m and b.
When to be concerned
The vast majority of babies have excellent hearing, but a few will have problems, especially if they were born very prematurely or were deprived of oxygen or had a severe infection at birth. Babies with a family history of hearing loss are more likely to have impaired hearing.
The fact that your baby can sleep right through the telephone ringing and the dog barking is perfectly normal. Babies need their sleep. There are other ways to tell if your child might have a hearing problem, though.
When your baby is awake and alert — and not suffering from a cold or an ear infection, which can temporarily affect his hearing — he should startle at loud, sudden noises. He should also calm down and turn to you when he hears your voice and react normally to sounds around him. If he doesn't, ask his doctor about formal hearing tests.
You can start with these quick evaluations at home:
Birth to 3 months: Clap your hands behind your baby's head. If he startles, he's fine.
Between 4 and 6 months: Call his name to see whether he turns toward or reacts to your voice. See if he turns his eyes or head to look for the source of an interesting sound.
Between 6 and 10 months: See whether your child responds to his name and familiar environmental sounds, such as the ringing of the phone or the roar of the vacuum cleaner.
Between 10 and 15 months: Ask your child to point to a familiar object in a picture book. If he can't, he may not be hearing you.
As you conduct these informal tests, remember that you're looking for your baby's best responses, not his average behavior. If you're convinced that he's responding some of the time, his hearing is probably okay.
Still, if you're concerned, trust your instincts and talk with your doctor. The earlier a baby's hearing problems are found, the better. According to research, identifying children who need hearing aids and fitting them with the devices before they're 6 months old significantly helps their speech and language development.
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