Chapter 9 Deafness and Hearing Loss

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Chapter 9 Deafness and Hearing Loss
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Definitions of Hearing Loss

• Medical perspective
• Continuum of hearing loss from mild to profound
• Educational perspective (IDEA definition)
• A hearing loss that adversely affects educational
  performance
• Difference between deafness and hard of hearing
• Deaf The student is not able to hear even with a
  hearing aid
• Hard of hearing Significant hearing loss that
  makes special adaptations necessary
• Many persons who are deaf do not view hearing
  loss as a disability

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Psychology

• Culture is widely defined as a set of learned
  norms, values, and behaviors, passed down from
  generation to generation in a society
• If there is such a thing as Deaf Culture, then
  there exists a set of learned behaviors
  associated with membership in the Deaf Community.
  
• Although the minds and behavior of Deaf people
  may be different from the minds and behavior of
  hearing people, overgeneralizations may be
  problematic.

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Characteristics of Students with Hearing Loss

• Students with hearing loss have different
  characteristics
• Levels of functioning influenced by
• Degree of hearing loss
• Attitudes of parents and siblings
• Opportunities to acquire a first language
• The presence of other disabilities
• Academic achievement
• Most children with hearing loss have difficulty
  with all areas of academic achievement
• Deafness itself imposes no limitations on the
  cognitive capabilities of the individual
• Social functioning
• The extent to which a child successfully
  interacts depends largely on others attitudes
  and the childs ability to communicate in some
  mutually accepted way

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Prevalence

• According to ASHA, 95 of every 1,000 people have
  a chronic hearing loss
• The large majority of persons with hearing loss
  are adults
• The U.S. Public Health Service estimates 83 out
  of 1000 children have an educationally
  significant hearing loss
• About 25 of students who are deaf or hard of
  hearing have another disabling condition

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Types and Causes of Hearing Loss

• Age of onset is important for determining
  educational needs
• Congenital hearing loss is present at birth
• Causes of congenital hearing loss
• Genetic Factors
• Maternal Rubella
• Congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
• Premature birth
• Acquired hearing loss appears after birth
• Prelingual hearing loss before speech develops
• Postlingual hearing loss after speech develops
• Causes of acquired hearing loss
• Otitis Media
• Meningitis
• Ménières Disease
• Noise Exposure

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Technologies and Supports That Amplify, Provide,
Supplement, or Replace Sound

• Hearing aids
• Hearing aids make sounds louder but not
  necessarily clearer
• The earlier in life a child is fitted the more
  effectively he will learn to use hearing
• Hearing aids offer minimal benefit in noisy and
  reverberant classrooms
• Assistive listening devices
• A radio link established between the teacher and
  the child can solve problems caused by distance
  and noise
• Cochlear implants
• A cochlear implant bypasses damaged hair cells
  and stimulates the auditory nerve directly
• Tremendous controversy surrounds cochlear
  implants in the deaf community

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Supports and Technologies

• Interpreters
• Interpreters have increased the ability of
  students to perform well in school
• Speech-to-text translation
• Computer devices that translate speech to text
• Television captioning
• Captioning helps students comprehend more
• Text telephones
• Helps teachers communicate with deaf students
• Alerting devices

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Educational Approaches

• Oral Approaches
• Training in producing and understanding speech is
  incorporated into virtually all aspects of the
  childs education
• Use of residual hearing with auditory training,
  speech reading or cued speech
• Total Communication
• Simultaneous presentation of language by speech
  and manual communication
• American Sign Language (ASL) and the
  Bilingual-Bicultural Approach
• ASL is a legitimate language in its own right
• The goal of the bilingual-bicultural approach is
  to help deaf students become bilingual adults who
  can read and write with competence in their
  second language

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Educational Placement Alternatives

• Approximately 84 of children who are deaf or
  hard of hearing attend local public schools
• All of the professional and parent organizations
  involved with educating students who are deaf
  have issued position statements strongly in favor
  of maintaining a continuum of placement options

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Current Issues and Future Trends

• The keys to improving the future for people who
  are deaf or hard of hearing
• Access to the language and communication modality
  best suited to their individual needs
• Effective instruction with meaningful curriculum
• Self-advocacy