This topic is not my area of expertise. I have many adult patients who began their hearing loss journey as infants, but I do not offer pediatric services.

In Pennsylvania, when a child under 18 is seen for a hearing test, to move forward with hearing aids an ear, nose and throat doctor has to be involved in the process.

While I have good relationships with ENTs throughout the region, there is not one in my practice, and I am not part of theirs. Typically, when a pediatric patient is referred out to an ENT, that doctor has staff audiologists, and the hearing aid process stays within their practice, as it should. It is just simpler to refer the parents of pediatric patients to the ENT at the beginning of their inquiry.

Genetic hearing disorders fascinate me so I read all I can to know more. My article is adapted from publicly available information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Also, I am borrowing statistics from the Winter 2025 edition of a magazine called “Hearing Health.”

I am assembling this information in my own words to simplify complex ideas about genetic hearing loss.

Hearing loss affects many newborn babies. According to the sources I just mentioned, in the USA, one in every 500 infants is born with hearing problems or develops them in early childhood. Eighty percent of babies with hearing loss trace it to a genetic root, though 90 percent of infants with hearing loss have typical hearing parents, meaning it is not first-generational heredity as an obvious cause. 98 percent of all babies are screened in the US before leaving the hospital after their birth.

Of all the possible sensory disorders, hearing loss is overwhelmingly the number one disorder among infants in the US. The percentages could be higher worldwide, but data is not available.

There are two main categories of infant hearing loss, Syndromic and Non-Syndromic. The first type means the hearing loss is accompanied by a potentially long list of other health symptoms. There is not enough space here to review the list.

“Non-Syndromic hearing loss accounts for about 70% of the cases of genetic hearing loss. Among those patients, there is only hearing loss with no other health issues. The most common cause of Non-Syndromic hearing loss is a change in a gene called Connexin 26 (GJB2) which is important for how the inner ear functions.” (Hearing Health Winter 2025 Edition)

Great advancements have been made in the science of hearing devices for all, including children with hearing aids and possibly cochlear implants. While I don’t see pediatric patients, I often sense the frustration in all adults who suffer hearing loss. I have heredity based hearing loss through my mother and have worn hearing aids for the past 17 years. Everyone I examine wants to hear better, and those who have hearing aids want them to perform as well as they possibly can. Hearing aid manufacturers know that “users,” those who wear aids, are constantly hoping the next generation technology will substantially improve their hearing. The hearing care professional has to be very careful not to hype unrealistic expectations of new technology just because a patient may be willing to pay money for newer aids.

As the user, it would always be wise to try new products for a couple of weeks to see if there’s any improvement related to the price you may be charged.

Lastly, regarding genetic hearing loss in children, as a hearing care professional, I know that it happens, the statistical frequency it happens, the symptoms and any other health non-symptoms that define the type of genetic hearing loss. We are even told the exact gene that malfunctions to cause it, but that does not answer the question, why does it happen?

That answer lies outside the field of medicine. As of this writing, I’ve been a hearing care professional for almost 20 years. For the past 52 years, I have been a pastoral care professional, 34 years as a full time local church minister, and the balance as what can be called bi-vocational ministry.

I serve, preach and help, but not as a full-time staff member of a church.

My business occupies the focus of my daily function but never to the expense of the opportunity or need to gently minister to others.

In the New Testament gospel of John, chapter 9:2, the disciples asked Jesus who had sinned that this blind man they encountered on the side of the road was born blind.

Jesus corrected their misunderstanding saying God had a bigger purpose and healed the man. We know not all are healed. We learn from that account that sin did not cause disability. God says in a broader question to Moses in Exodus 4:11-13 “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not the Lord?” The answer to the “why” of genetic hearing loss or any other disability lies with the Lord. He does not presently give all the answers your heart desires but someday He will.

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Jeff Bayliff, NBC-HIS, is owner of Hear the Birds Hearing Aid Center in Lock Haven, Pa.