Alcohol-related birth defects may include conductive hearing loss or neurosensory hearing loss (Stratton, Howe & Battaglia, 1996, pp. 4-5).
Increased
frequencies of both conductive and neurosensory hearing problems are found in
children with FAS…a history of recurrent otitis media or delays in speech
should also alert the clinician to the possibility of hearing loss (Ibid.,
157).
The frequency of recurrent serous otitis media is reported to be higher among children with FAS, and appears to be associated with Eustachian tube dysfunction secondary to embryonic malformations of the first and second branchial arches (Church & Gerkin, 1988). According to some sources, children with FAS are at elevated risk for Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) (Barker, personal communication.)
Church, Eldis, Blakley, and Bawle (1997) cited a study reporting a high incidence (29%) of hearing impairment due to sensori-neural hearing loss (SNHL) in a group of 14 children with FAS. Their own study of 22 FAS patients showed that 27% had mild SNHL, 82% had receptive language deficits, and 73% had expressive language scores more than one standard deviation below the norm for their chronological ages. They concluded that “virtually every FAS patient with a language disorder also had a hearing disorder and vice versa” (p. 231).