"Huh?", "What?", "Did you say something?" Sound familiar? Just about every kid on the planet says these things every day to their parents, teachers and/or friends. So how is a parent to know when hearing loss is a real possibility?

As parents, we would rather believe our child has something physically wrong like an ear canal full of wax, fluid behind the ear drums or even plain old hearing loss as the reason for the lack of listening to our requests. In reality, however, the vast majority of the time hearing loss is not to blame.

All kids (and adults for that matter) have what I call "selective hearing." When they are actively engaged in something interesting or just not in the mood to listen, kids tune out and it can take several attempts before our requests are heard. What differentiates these kids from the ones with true hearing impairment is that children with hearing loss will always have difficulty hearing, even when they want to pay attention. They may have difficulty hearing their friend who is talking in the playground football huddle or won't come a runnin' when you announce the cookies are out of the oven. Some of these kids with mild hearing loss may need to see your face to "hear" you because watching your lip movement helps them understand. Others may be using your gestures as guides to fill in the blanks of what they can't discern. The difficult thing is that kids don't know what normal is when they are little and won't necessarily tell you they are having a hard time hearing.

You need to be a bit of a detective to differentiate selective hearing from real hearing loss. Here are some things you can do to help figure it out: First, stand behind your child and whisper something you know they would be eager to hear and see if there's a response. If not, have them face you and whisper the same thing. Another technique is to play a game with your kids (or your child and his friends) where you have them sit on the couch and raise their hands as soon as they hear you say something. Put blindfolds on the kids (this gets them really excited about the game and prevents them from seeing a sibling raise her hand and lift theirs even if they don't hear what is said. It also prevents them from reading your lips). Start off with very, very quiet whispers and gradually get louder. See if there is a significant difference between your child in his response and if so, it's time to head to the doctor.

Some things that increase your child's risk for hearing loss are a family history of early hearing loss, frequent ear infections in the past, listening to loud music with or without ear buds, trauma to an ear or a history of wax impaction needing the ear canal to be flushed out. If your suspicion is high, it makes sense to head to the doctor and get examined and have a hearing test. If your child has hearing loss, finding out why is important so you can get treatment and protect your child's language development.