Understanding Students with Hearing Loss

1
Understanding Students with Hearing Loss

• Chapter 14

2
Cochlear Implants

• What are the issues of controversy?
• Do you think Mariah, Ricquel, and Shylah should
  have an implant?

3
Definition

• Deaf hearing loss of 70 to 90 decibels or
  greater and cannot use hearing even with
  amplification
  
• Hard of hearing hearing loss in the 20 to 70 dB
  range and benefits from amplification

4
Prevalence

• (2003) 70,349 students ages 6-21
• 7,474 preschool ages 3-5

5
Hearing Process

• Audition hearing process
• Vibration interpreting patterns in the movement
  of air molecules
  
• Sound is described in pitch and frequency
• Frequency measured in hertz (Hz)
• Loudness measured in decibels (dB)

6
Outer Ear

• Auricle, or pinna, and ear canal
• Purpose to collect the sound waves
• Funnel sound waves to the tympanic membrane
  (eardrum)
  
• Vibrating air hits the eardrum which causes
  vibration

7
Middle Ear

• Consists of 3 little bones known as the ossicular
  chain malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and
  stapes (stirrup)
  
• Vibration of the eardrum causes the bones to
  vibrate and transmit sound through the middle
  ear
  
• Eustachian tube also in middle ear equalizes air
  pressure when you yawn and swallow
  

8
Inner Ear

• Cochlea
• Snail-shaped bony structure - multiple rows of
  delicate hair cells connected to auditory nerve
  
• Vestibular mechanism
• Semicircular canals that control balance

9
Characteristics

• IQ range same as general population
• Mild to severe language delays
• Receptive speech impairments

10
Communication Options

• Oral/aural communication
• Amplification or cochlear implant
• Emphasis on amplified sound to develop language
• Manual communication
• Sign language
• Finger spelling
• Total or simultaneous communication
• Combines both sign and spoken communication

11
Challenges

• Academic Achievement
• Challenges with reading and writing
• Social and emotional development
• Parent -child interactions
• Peers and teachers - self concept
• Social cues
• Sense of isolation

12
Causes

• Congenital - present at birth
• Acquired
• Trauma
• Disease
• Exposure to excessive noise

13
Hereditary

• 1 in 2,000 children
• Result of inherited autosomal recessive gene
• 70 documented inherited syndromes associated with
  deafness

14
Prenatal

• Hypoxia
• Rubella
• Toxoplasmosis, herpes, syphilis, cytomegalovirus
  (CMV)

15
Postnatal

• Bacterial meningitis
• Acute otitis media (ear infections)

16
Postlingual Causes

• Blow to the skull causing trauma to the cochlea
• Excessive noise - firecrackers and air guns
• Exposure to loud noise over time - rock concerts
  and headphones
  
• Noise levels of 100 to 110dB
• Sustained 90dB levels damaging

17
Hearing Tests

• Evoked otoacoustic emissions EOAE
• Screening auditory brain stem response
• Audimetry - ABR
• Behavioral audiological evaluations - older
  children

18
An audiogram is a picture of your hearing. The
results of your hearing test are recorded on an
audiogram. The audiogram to the right
demonstrates different sounds and where they
would be represented on an audiogram. The yellow
banana shaped figure represents all the sounds
that make up the human voice when speaking at
normal conversational levels.
19
The horizontal lines represent loudness or
intensity. The 0 decibel (dB) line near the top
of the audiogram represents an extremely soft
sound. Each horizontal line below represents a
louder sound. Moving from the top to the bottom
would be consistent with hitting the piano key
harder or turning up the volume control on your
stereo.
20
The softest sound you are able to hear at each
pitch is recorded on the audiogram. The softest
sound you are able to hear is called your
threshold. Thresholds of 0-25 dB are considered
normal (for adults). The audiogram on the right
demonstrates the different degrees of hearing
loss.
21
Types of Hearing Loss

• Conductive - air-conduction thresholds show loss
  but bone-conduction are normal
  
• Sensorineural - no blockage in middle or outer
  ear - loss is caused by sensitivity in cochlear
  or auditory nerve
  
• Mixed - both air-conduction/bone-conduction and
  sensitivity

22
IDEA Services

• Interpreting services
• Tutoring
• General classroom assistance
• Educational planning
• Sign language instruction

23
Supplemental Aids

• Sound-field amplification system
• Loop systems
• Assistive technology
• closed captioned
• C-print real-time translations of the spoken
  word

24

• http//www.dizziness-and-balance.com/testing/heari
  ng_test.htm
  
• http//www.babyhearing.org/HearingAmplification/He
  aringLoss/audiogram.asp
  
• http//www.hdhearing.com/Learning/Part2.htm