Hearing Impairment

According to the Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) §15-761(8) and as determined by evaluation, a hearing impairment is one "... which interferes with the child's performance in the educational environment and requires the provision of special education and related services."

Hearing losses can be categorized into four types. They are conductive, sensorineural, mixed, or central. The types refer to where the loss occurs. A conductive loss is one where some condition prevents sound from reaching the middle ear. Some conditions are obstructions that can often be removed with surgery. Other conductive losses are caused by disease, fusion of the bones of the middle ear, or birth defects. Hearing aides may improve some of these losses. The other types of losses, sensorineural, mixed and central are not as easily aided by amplification, because more than just the hearing organ (ear) is involved. The sensory hair cells of the inner ear may be damaged. The auditory nerve may be impaired or the central nervous system itself may be involved. In many of these cases, repair is often not possible.

The amount of hearing loss can vary. It can be a mild loss or profound loss. Some losses affect only the high sound frequencies while some affect low frequencies. Depending on the type of loss, amplification with hearing aids may sometimes be helpful. The range of sound and the amount of distortion received by the aided ear will depend on the type and degree of hearing loss.

Hearing impairment can be hereditary or can be caused by accident or illness. Also viral infections before or after birth can cause hearing impairment. Exposure to loud noises for long periods is also a common cause of hearing losses.

How Common is a Hearing Impairment?
In the 1997-98 school year, 1,532 students in Arizona were classified as having hearing impairments and received special education services. The number represents .193 percent of the 794,928 children enrolled in Arizona public schools as of October 1, 1997.

What is the Effect of a Hearing Impairment on a Child?
Oral, or spoken language is learned by hearing it spoken. Therefore, the length of time a child had the ability to hear before losing that sense will affect learning. Just as the type and the amount of the loss varies, so must the type of education vary to accommodate the type of loss.

The focus for teaching students with hearing losses must be on teaching them to communicate. Depending on the type of hearing loss, the way the individual learns, the preference of the family and the individual, an oral or a manual method may be used. Sometimes a combination of sign language and speech is taught. If amplification is helpful, a student might be fitted with a hearing aid.

Speech and articulation are also an important part of communication. Since hearing impaired persons are unable to receive some sounds accurately, they often cannot articulate words clearly. These students may benefit from training in voice and articulation. For most children with hearing impairments, language acquisition and development are significantly delayed, sometimes leading to an erroneously low estimate of intelligence. Therefore, teaching a child to communicate early is important in preventing severe delays in learning. Early intervention programs include teaching the family how to stimulate their hearing impaired infant, and to use cues on which to build language.