Posted in Medical

G is for Genetics Lesson

Some numbers for you… hearing loss is genetic 50% of the time (the other 50% is environmental). Nonetheless, more than 90% of kids with hearing loss are born to hearing parents. Why? Each parent has 1 copy of the mutated gene (aka “carrier”) which does not cause any symptoms on its own, but it does produce a hearing loss when the child inherits 2 copies of the mutation (such as Connexin 26 within the Ashkenazi community). Among those with genetic hearing losses, 2/3 have hearing loss and nothing else. The remaining 1/3 have various syndromes which include hearing loss as well as other clinical findings (eg: visual impairment, heart problems, abnormal facial structure, intellectual disability, etc.). When a child is diagnosed with hearing loss, a workup is typically done to investigate the cause and rule out any co-occuring health conditions.