Improve Education for Students with Unilateral Hearing Loss

Experts in the field of hearing health, are providing hearing aid
specialists, parents, and teachers advice on the best practices to integrate for children who have unilateral hearing loss (UHL), also known as single-sided deafness (SSD), and hearing aids or assistive listening devices. 

There are about 3 in 100 children who have UHL when they reach school age. Studies have shown:

• These children are 10 times at risk of repeating a year of school than children with healthy hearing abilities.   
• They are 5 times more likely to require support services.
• UHL can lead to poor development in speech and linguistics.
• They have poor performance on tests that are made for verbal working memory and phonological processing compared to normal-hearing siblings.

During the second half of this past decade, there have been huge breakthroughs in learning about the challenges and needs of children with UHL. This information has been compiled in the 2019 Consensus practice parameter: audiological assessment and management of unilateral hearing loss in children.  

3 Recommendations to assess and treat a student with UHL
          
1. Effectively communicate with families 

As with all care for children, working closely with parents is crucial for practical care. Cooperation with parents can lead to the best combination of:  

• Academic accommodations
• Amplification
• Follow-up monitoring
  
  

2. Give support and resources to families

Parents need a team of advocates to learn about what accommodations they need to make for their children. Here’s a guide to accomplish that. These practices will help families with children who experience UHL throughout their hearing journey and encourage better communication with you and other professionals. This resource may be shared with your child’s caregivers and teachers.

3. Be open to an array of hearing technologies  

Studies have indicated that children who have UHL, demonstrate a substantial decrease in speech comprehension in both quiet areas (with a distance of 3 meters or more), and noisy areas (with a distance of 1.5 meters or more) when there is no use of interventional technology. Students with UHL can achieve academically by using technologies like hearing aids or assistive listening devices. 

Contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a complimentary hearing test and consultation we offer a variety of hearing aids and assistive listening devices. 

contact us