Why Is My Child So Sensitive to Loud Sounds? A Paediatric ENT Guide for Parents As a parent, watching your child experience physical distress from sounds that others barely notice can be deeply unsettling. You might notice your child covering their ears, crying, or experiencing a flash of panic when the vacuum cleaner starts, when a public hand dryer activates, or when a dog barks nearby. When a child exhibits an intolerance to everyday noises, parents often wonder whether it is a behavioural phase, a sign of sensory processing differences, or a physical issue within the ears. In the medical community, this heightened, excessive sensitivity to everyday environmental sounds is known as hyperacusis . As a Consultant ENT Surgeon practising across London and Essex, I frequently meet families at my Brentwood and Ilford clinics who are seeking clarity on this exact issue. This comprehensive guide will help you understand how a child’s ears process sound, the structural and medi...
Why is fluid, pus, or Blood Coming from My Child’s Ear? A Parent’s Guide to Ear Discharge Seeing fluid coming from your child’s ear can be worrying. The discharge may be clear, yellow, creamy, green, smelly or slightly blood-stained. Some children have significant ear pain before the discharge appears. Others seem surprisingly comfortable once the ear starts to drain. Parents often ask the same urgent question: “Has my child’s eardrum burst?” Sometimes the answer is yes. A middle-ear infection can cause pressure to build behind the eardrum until a small perforation develops, allowing infected fluid to drain out. However, this is not the only cause of ear discharge. The fluid may instead be coming from the ear canal, through a grommet, from irritated skin, or from another ear condition. The appearance of the discharge alone cannot always identify the cause. Mr Gaurav Kumar, Consultant ENT Surgeon, assesses children with ear, hearing and other paediatric ENT concerns from London, E...