Hearing Impaired

Definitions	Signs of Hearing Problems
Incidence	Characteristics
Educational Implications	Communication Modes
Quiz	Works Cited

Definitions:

These are the definitions as given by the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), formerly known as the Education of the Handicapped (PL 94-142).

Hearing Impairment is "an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance."

Deafness is "a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification.

Therefore, deafness may be viewed as a condition that prevents an individual from receiving sound in all or most of its forms. In contrast, a child with a hearing loss can generally respond to auditory stimuli, including speech.

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• turning one ear toward the speaker
• favoring one ear in conversation
• misunderstanding conversation when the speaker's face cannot be seen
• not following directions
• seeming distracted/confused at times
• frequently asking people to repeat what they have said
• mispronouncing new words or names
• being reluctant to participate in class discussions
• students with frequent earaches, sinus infections, or allergies

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The US Department of Education reports that during the 1993-94 school year, 64,249 students aged 6 to 21 (or 1.3% of all students with disabilities) received special education services under the combined categories of "hearing impairment" and "deafness."

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4 Types of Hearing Loss:

1. Conductive-caused by diseases or obstructions in the outer or middle ear; usually affect all frequencies of hearing evenly and do not result in severe losses (can be corrected with a hearing aid or by medicine/surgery).

2. Sensorineural-damage to delicate sensory hair cells of the inner ear or the nerves which supply it; sometimes the use of a hearing aid is impossible.

3. Mixed-combination of conductive and sensorineural; problems in both outer/middle and inner ear.

4. Central-damage/impairment to nerves or nuclei of the central nervous system.

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Educational Implications

Children who are hard of hearing/deaf need special education services in order to receive an adequate education. For example:

• regular speech, language, and auditory training from a specialist
• amplification systems
• services of an interpreter for those students who use manual communication
• favorable seating in the class to facilitate speech reading
• captioned films/videos
• assistance of a note taker, who takes notes for the student with a hearing loss, so that the student can fully attend to instruction
• instruction for the teacher and peers in alternate communication methods, such as sign language
• counseling

It is more difficult for children with hearing disabilities to learn vocabulary, grammar, word order, idiomatic expressions, and other aspects of verbal communication that children with normal hearing.

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Visible Communication modes

• sign language
• finger spelling
• cued speech

Oral Communication

• speech
• speechreading/lipreading
• use of residual hearing

Manual Communication*

• sign language
• finger spelling

Total Communication +

• oral + signs and finger spelling

* Children who use manual communication seem to perform better in academic subjects and are more socially mature than those who are only exposed to oral modes of communication.

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1. The four types of hearing loss are:

a. partially, low, legally, and totally.

b. deaf, hard of hearing, selective, and dumb/deaf.

c. conductive, sensorineural, mixed, and central.

d. visible, oral, manual, and total.

2. Which type of communication appears to help children learn best in school and have good social relations as well (includes finger spelling and sign language)?

a. visible.

b. manual.

c. oral.

d. automatic.

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1. C. The four types of hearing loss are conductive, sensorineural, mixed, and central.

2. B. Manual modes of communication (including finger spelling and sign language) seem to be best for children with hearing disabilities.

The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities

P.O. Box 1492

Washington, D.C. 20013

1-800-695-0285

nichcy@aed.org

NICHCY's web site

 

 

Woolfolk, Anita E. Educational Psychology 7th Ed. Allyn and Bacon:

Needham Heights, MA, 1998.

http://www.parentpals.com/1.0Speci.../Definitions.html#DEAFANDHARDOFHEARING