• Prerequisites and learning objectives
• Lesson
  • Content
    • 1 - Hearing loss
      • 1.1 - Categories of hearing loss severity
      • 1.2 - Functional assessment of hearing loss
        • 1 . 2 . 1 - In children
        • 1 . 2 . 2 - In adults
    • 2 - Sensory disabilities in children
      • 2.1 - Normal development of spoken language in children
      • 2.2 - Warning signs – approaches to management
    • 3 - Sensory disabilities in adults
      • 3.1 - General
      • 3.2 - Repercussions
      • 3.3 - Approaches to management
    • 4 - The specific case of profound or total unilateral hearing loss
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2  -  Sensory disabilities in children

2 . 1  -  Normal development of spoken language in children

Involves the following stages :

• at birth, child reacts to sounds;
• begins burbling and babbling around 3 months;
• reacts to his/her name around 4 months;
• imitates sounds and intonations around 6 months;
• gives an object when asked around 8 months;
• communicates using first words at 12 months;
• uses a vocabulary of 50 words and can string 2-3 words together at 18 months;
• at around 3 years, the child can :
  • understand language about his/her daily activities;
  • use "I";
  • communicate and make sentences with subject/verb/object;
  • ask questions;
• at 5 years, the child can:
  •  speak without mangling words;
  • use a wide vocabulary;
  • understand and build complex sentences;
  • talk about something that happened or tell a story.

The more serious the (bilateral) hearing loss, and the earlier its onset during spoken and written language acquisition, the more severe the disability will be.

2 . 2  -  Warning signs – approaches to management

In infants, any departure from the normal pattern of development should be met with special testing as quickly as possible.

In preschool-aged children, any small delay in language or speech acquisition should quickly lead to testing for hearing loss.

Chronic bilateral otitis with effusion leading to conductive hearing loss, which may in turn disrupt language acquisition, requires treatment.

Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss may occur in the course of meningitis or following ototoxic treatments. Its onset may also be progressive, secondary, and genetically driven.

The same goes for school-aged children.

Any bilateral sensorineural hearing loss should be addressed very quickly by a specialized team who will provide assessment and follow-up in the ENT, pediatric, SLP, and auditory prosthetics fields, as well as parental coaching and educational support.

Full coverage is provided for bilateral hearing aids until a patient's 20^th birthday.

Cochlear implants are reserved for patients with profound bilateral hearing loss and no benefit from conventional hearing prostheses. They are advisable under such circumstances from the age of 12-18 months for congenital hearing loss and as early as possible under the same circumstances for secondary hearing loss.