Hearing Impairment & Deafness

At the end of the course, students should be able to: 1. define the difference between hearing impairment and deafness; 2. prepare an appropriate recommendation to parents/family on the best approach to rehabilitation such as sign-language, oralism, cochlea implant, special school or mainstream education and many others; 3. explain methods employed in assessing a monaural (one-sided or unilateral) hearing loss; 4. list out steps to be taken to rule out medical condition that may be responsible for the hearing loss; 5. list out the rehabilitation strategies for patients with unilateral hearing loss such as recommendation of wireless cross hearing aid, preferential sitting placement if a school child without amplification; 6. explain the inherent implications of unilateral hearing loss without treatment/rehabilitation; and 7. counsel a patient or family on the importance of binaural hearing.

Hearing impairment. Hearing Disability. Hearing Handicap. Partial and total deafness. Monaural (unilateral) hearing loss. Symmetric and asymmetric hearing loss. Educational, linguistic, and social consequences of hearing impairment. Classical characteristics of hearing impairment and deafness. Treatment approach to hearing impairment and deafness.