Logo image
An Introduction to the Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss Study
Journal article   Peer reviewed

An Introduction to the Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss Study

Mary Pat Moeller and J Bruce Tomblin
Ear and hearing, Vol.36(Suppl 1), pp.4S-13S
11/2015
DOI: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000210
PMCID: PMC4704131
PMID: 26731159

View Online

Abstract

The landscape of service provision for young children with hearing loss has shifted in recent years as a result of newborn hearing screening and the early provision of interventions, including hearing technologies. It is expected that early service provision will minimize or prevent linguistic delays that typically accompany untreated permanent childhood hearing loss. The post-newborn hearing screening era has seen a resurgence of interest in empirically examining the outcomes of children with hearing loss to determine if service innovations have resulted in expected improvements in children's functioning. The Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss (OCHL) project was among these recent research efforts, and this introductory article provides background in the form of literature review and theoretical discussion to support the goals of the study. The Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss project was designed to examine the language and auditory outcomes of infants and preschool-age children with permanent, bilateral, mild-to-severe hearing loss, and to identify factors that moderate the relationship between hearing loss and longitudinal outcomes. The authors propose that children who are hard of hearing experience limitations in access to linguistic input, which lead to a decrease in uptake of language exposure and an overall reduction in linguistic experience. The authors explore this hypothesis in relation to three primary factors that are proposed to influence children's access to linguistic input: aided audibility, duration and consistency of hearing aid use, and characteristics of caregiver input.
Severity of Illness Index Hearing Loss, Bilateral - rehabilitation Outcome Assessment (Health Care) Humans Language Development Child, Preschool Audiometry, Pure-Tone Infant Child Longitudinal Studies Case-Control Studies Hearing Loss, Bilateral - physiopathology

Details

Logo image