Untreated Hearing Loss

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Consequences of Untreated Hearing Loss
The implications of hearing loss go far beyond academic achievement to affect all areas of an individual’s life in all domains of development. The effects of untreated hearing loss can result in negative social, psychological, and cognitive health. Untreated hearing loss can result in irritability, pessimism, anger, fatigue, tension, stress, depression, avoidance or withdrawal from social situations, social rejection or loneliness, reduced alertness, impaired memory and ability to learn new tasks, reduced performance, and diminished mental health and overall wellbeing (Consequences of Hearing Loss, n.d.). Hearing loss increases difficulties in learning, speech, development, interpersonal skills, and development
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This is a huge controversy within the hearing and deaf community and this can be a very sensitive topic. Parents may decline the use of hearing aids or cochlear implants and focus on other aspects of early intervention that will produce optimal development in all developmental domains despite deafness. However, if hearing aids and cochlear implants are implemented there are other difficulties that come into play, such as, extreme difficulty in noisy environments which already presents itself as an obstacle for the typically developing child and is exacerbated for the child with hearing loss. Furthermore, children with hearing loss who use hearing aids and cochlear implants often struggle with background noise which can be very overwhelming. While these devices do imitate typical hearing patterns and processes, it is not perfectly identical to typical hearing and adjustments may need to be made to the devices to best meet the needs of the …show more content…
Intervention consists of helping the child to develop a means of communication whether by verbal speech or sign language, speech and language intervention, and possibly getting a hearing device such as cochlear implants for those who are deaf, or hearing aids for those who have significant hearing loss. “Hearing loss can affect a child’s ability to develop speech, language, and social skills. The earlier a child who is deaf or hard-of-hearing starts getting services, the more likely the child’s speech, language, and social skills will reach their full potential” (Treatment and Intervention Services, 2015). The intervention process will primarily include the family, the child, an audiologist, speech-language pathologist, and a primary care physician (Your Early Intervention Team, n.d.). Additional services will be provided as needed based on the circumstances of the individual family and child. Together these specialists, the family, and the child will develop a partnership and work together so that the child can meet their optimal potential of