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Hearing Impairment Resources

 
 
 

Hearing Impairment Resources

This section provides an overview of hearing impairment with downloads about the hearing process, causes of hearing impairment, hearing assessment, hearing aids and cochlear implants, hearing impairment resources, strategies and programs to facilitate speech, language, and communication. Click on the links below to open fact-sheets.

 

Hearing impairment
Hearing impairment affects many children and adults either temporarily (e.g. fluctuating hearing loss in children) or permanently. Hearing loss in childhood can severely delay speech and language development, and most adults will experience a deterioration in their hearing as they get older. This detailed document describes the process of hearing, what can go wrong, hearing assessment and getting hearing aids.

 

Hearing Assessment
To determine an individual’s level of hearing or investigate hearing loss, an assessment needs to take place. There are several types of hearing tests that focus on different aspects of the hearing mechanism.

 

Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants
This article provides an overview of hearing aids and cochlear implants, how they work and how to benefit from them.

 

 
Enhancing communication with hearing impaired people and wearers of hearing aids
Children with hearing impairment often have some degree of speech and/or language delay. There are a number of different approaches to facilitate speech and language in these cases, and these depend on several factors including the level of hearing impairment, whether the child has a cochlear implant and the wishes and/or commitment of the parents.

 

Communication and habilitation for wearers of cochlear implants
The big advantage of a cochlear implant over a normal hearing aid is that you are able to hear spoken language and speech sounds more acutely, and this facilitates more natural speech development.

 

Devices that help people with hearing impairment
There are many other devices available, as well as hearing aids, that can help people with hearing impairment.

 
 
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