



Many students who receive itinerant services, either direct or consult, from an itinerant teacher for deaf/hard of hearing students, have a unilateral hearing loss.
Possible effect on understanding language and speech:
Child can "hear" but will have difficulty understanding in certain situations, such as hearing faint or distant speech, especially if weaker ear is closer to the person speaking.
Will usually have difficulty localizing sounds and voices using hearing alone. The unilateral listener will have greater difficulty understanding when environment is noisy and/or reverberant, especially with normal ear toward the overhead projector or other sound source and poor hearing ear toward the teacher.
Exhibits difficulty detecting or understanding soft speech form the side of the poor hearing ear, especially in group discussions.
Possible psychosocial impact:
Child may be accused of selective hearing due to discrepancies in speech understanding in quiet versus noise.
Social problems may arise as child experiences difficulty understanding in noisy cooperative learning, lunch, or recess situations.
May misconstrue peer conversations and feel rejected or ridiculed.
Child may be more fatigued in classroom setting due to greater effort needed to listen, especially if class is active or has relatively poor acoustics.
May appear inattentive, distracted, or frustrated, with behavior or social problems sometimes evident.
Potential educational accommodations and services:
Allow child to change seat locations to direct the better ear toward the most effective listening position.
Student is at risk for educational difficulties as half of students with unilateral hearing loss experience significant learning problems.
Often have difficulty learning sound/letter associations in typically noisy kindergarten and first grade settings. Educational monitoring is warranted.
Unilateral Hearing Loss: Tips for ParentsInfants with unilateral hearing loss are being identified within the first few months of life subsequent to the newborn hearing screening test before hospital discharge. Approximately 2 babies in every 1000 births have a unilateral hearing loss. There are many strategies parents can use to enhance their child's listening skills. There are also specific changes than can be made to the home environment to make listening easier for your child. "Why does a unilateral hearing loss make it more difficult for my child to hear?"
What strategies can I use at home to make listening easier for my child?
How can I speak to my baby to make my words clearer?
Parents can carefully observe their child and note any warning signs that hearing loss is affecting development. Consider these tips:
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