Deafness and Hearing Impairment

Did you know that more than 34 million people in the U.S have Hearing loss? Keep reading to learn more!

Definitions to Know

Hearing Impairment: “an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section”
Deafness: “a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, and that adversely affects a child’s educational performance”

More than 34 million people in the US have hearing loss
- Highest prevalence for individuals 65 years and older
Slightly less than 2% of students who are treated for disabilities ages 6-21 in the US Public schools are under hearing impairment = 69,220 students
40% of all who are Deaf or hearing impaired have..
- Educationally significant disabilities
- Intellectual disabilities
- Learning disabilities
- ADHD
- Other health impairments

Hearing Loss can occur before or after birth
- Present at birth: Congenital Hearing Loss
- After birth: Acquired, adventitious Hearing Loss
Many educational professionals look at pre and post speech development
- Pre speech development: Prelingual
- Post speech development: postlingual
Generally, professionals believe that the longer children have had a normal hearing, the greater chance they will maintain that knowledge and communication skills

Conductive Hearing Loss: Problem of the outer or middle ear prevents sound from being conducted to the inner ear
Sensorineural hearing loss: caused by a problem in the inner ear or along the nerve pathway to the brain stem. As a result, the sound that travels to the inner ear and brain stem is not delivered at all or is much softer or distorted
Mixed hearing loss: involves both a conductive and a sensorineural loss.
Bilateral hearing loss: a loss in both ears
Unilateral hearing loss: a loss in only one ear.
Fluctuating hearing loss: may function differently from day to day because of periodic ear infections or a buildup of fluid or earwax.

Impact on Communication
- Not all children communicate the same
- Children with two deaf parents develop ASL at the same rate as a hearing child with 2 hearing parents develop english
- Types of communication options
  - Spoken English
  - Cued Speech
  - Signing exact english
  - Signing English
  - Contact Signing/Pidgin Sign
  - ASL
Academic Impact
- Math: Children with HL/D are significantly better at Math
- Writing: Students with HL/D may have a harder time writing due to writing being a second form of a primary language that they have not yet mastered
Social Emotional Characteristics
- Fewer friends due to the inability to communicate
- Efforts need to be made to bridge communication between hearing, hearing impaired and deaf students.
Behavioral Characteristics
- Often lag behind socially
- Often miss verbal explanations to why certain behaviors are inappropriate.
- Limited Conversation Patterns
- Limited Vocabulary to express feelings
- Often use PATHS to solve challenging behaviors with students who have HL