MODULE

7Learners with Additional Needs

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Learners with Difficulty Hearing

INTRODUCTION

Individuals with hearing impairment are either deaf or hard of

hearing. Students who are deaf do not have sufficient residual hearing to
understand speech without special instruction and training. On the other
hand, students who are hard of hearing have enough residual hearing to
understand speech and learn in regular class without much difficulty.
Such hearing impairment is not simply an inability to hear or to communicate
through speech. The most destructive effect of deafness is the deprivation of language. A hearing
person acquires the complex linguistic system of his/her culture as part of normal growth and
development in a spontaneous effortless and natural manner. Deafness on the other hand, deprives
the person of the normal use of the hearing mechanism. He or she does not acquire the listening
skills that provide the base for the development of speaking, reading, writing and other
communication competencies.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After working through this module you should be able to :

1. define the terms hearing impairment, hearing loss, deaf, and hard of hearing;
2. explain the role of hearing and listening in language development;
3. enumerate and describe the causes and classification of hearing loss;
4. explain the effects of hearing impairment on intellectual, social and emotional development;
5. enumerate and describe the formal and informal hearing tests; and
6. enumerate and describe the assessment procedures in determining the cognitive ability,
communication skills and socio-behavioral traits of student with hearing impaired
7. enumerate and describe the types of educational programs and instructional strategies for
students with hearing impaired.
8. appreciate the abilities of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing.

A. ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Please click the link below to understand what Deaf

culture is all about.

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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbs1QJTYq-g

B. Analysis

What do we mean by DEAF CULTURE?

Hearing Impaired or Deaf? which is which?

C. Abstraction

Hearing Impairment

Hearing impairment or disability refers to the reduced function or loss of the normal function of
the hearing mechanism. The impairment or disability limits the person’s sensitivity to tasks like
listening, understanding speech, and speaking in the same way those persons with normal hearing
do.

Deaf

A person who is deaf cannot use hearing to listen, understand speech and communicate orally
without special adaptations mainly in the visual mode. While a hearing aid amplifies the sounds by
increasing the volume to make the sounds louder, a person who is deaf cannot understand speech
through the ears alone. He or she may be able to perceive some sounds but his or her sense of
hearing is not enough or nonfunctional for the ordinary purposes in life. Speech is accompanied by
visually perceived actions like gestures, signs and facial expression.

Hard of hearing

A person who is hard of hearing has a significant loss of hearing sensitivity but he or she can hear
sounds, respond to speech and other auditory stimuli with or without the use of hearing aid. He or
she is more like a hearing person than one who is deaf because both of them use audition or
listening to auditory stimuli in the environment, unlike a deaf person who relies more on visual
stimuli.

The Anatomy of the Human Ear

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The ear has 3 main parts: the external
or outer ear, the middle ear, and the
inner ear that extends to the central
auditory nervous system in the brain.
The external or outer ear called the
auricle or pinna directs the sounds into
the auditory canal or external acoustic
meatus. When sounds enter the
external acoustic meatus, they are
slightly louder or amplified as they are
directed toward the middle ear.Sounds
enter the middle ear through the
Eustachian tube and pass through the
tympanic membrane or eardrum. The
eardrum moves in and out in response
to changes in sound pressure. The
movements of the eardrum change the
acoustical energy into mechanical
energy which is transferred to the
three smallest bones in the body, the
ossicles or ossicular chain, composed
of the malleus or hammer, incus or anvil and stapes or stirrup. The footplate or base of the stapes
rests in an opening called the oval window, the path through which mechanical energy enters the
inner ear. The vibrations of the ossicles transmit the mechanical energy from the middle ear to the
inner ear with the little loss. The most complex and sensitive part of the entire hearing apparatus,
the inner ear, is covered by the temporal bone, the hardest bone in the body. The cochlea is the
main receptor organ for hearing and contains two fluid-filled cavities and the organ of Corti. The
cochlea looks like a coiled shell of a snail. The vibrations stimulate the approximately 20,000 tiny
hair cells to transform the mechanical energy into electrical nerve impulses or neural energy. These
impulses are transmitted along the auditory nerve through the central nervous system pathways to
the brain where the auditory experience is processed and understood. The semicircular canals in
the inner ear controls the sense of balance.

Classification of Hearing Impairment

1. Conductive Hearing Loss – Problem with conducting sound vibes to the inner ear due to
abnormalities and complications of the outer or middle ear
2. Sensor neural Hearing Loss – defects in the inner ear (cochlea) or auditory nerve
3. Mixed Hearing Loss – problems in the outer, middle and inner ear (combination of
conductive and sensoryneural hearing loss); sounds are distorted
4. Central hearing loss – damage in hearing receptions and pathways of the brain
5. Congenital – present at birth

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 6. Adventitious – acquired later in life
7. Prelinguistic – acquired after the child had developed speech or language
8. Unilateral – hearing loss in one year; generally learned speech and language without
difficulties; difficulties in localizing sounds and listening in noisy places
9. Bilateral – hearing loss in both ears

*As mentioned earlier, deafness may be congenital or adventitious. The degree of severity of
hearing impairment may be slight, mild, moderate, severe and profound.*
Causes
Conductive hearing Impairment Sensorineural Hearing Impairment
 Otitis media (middle air fluid)  Congenital viral infections
 Otitis external  Maternal rubella
 Impacted cerumen (wax)  Prematurity and low birth weight
 Blockage of the external auditory meatus  Rh-factor incompatibility
by a foreign object  Maldevelopment of the inner ear
 Congenital malformation of the outer and  Heredity (congenital or acquired)
middle ear  Meningitis
 Genetic syndromes  Encephalitis
 Cleft palate  Measles
 Traumatic head injury  Mumps
 Influenza
 Unexplained high fever auditory nerve
tumors

Characteristics of Deafness and Hearing Loss in Students

Some of the common characteristics of deafness commonly found in classrooms include the
following:

• Difficulty following verbal directions

• Difficulty with oral expression

• Some difficulties with social/emotional or interpersonal skills

• Will often have a degree of language delay

• Often follows and rarely leads

• Will usually exhibit some form of articulation difficulty

• Easily frustrated if their needs are not met — which may lead to some behavioral
difficulties.

• Use of hearing aids leads to embarrassment and fear of rejection from peers.

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 • The child may be dumb besides being deaf.

• The speech defects are common among children with hearing impairment.

• Difficulty in learning language/vocabulary.

• Consequently these children are low in intelligence because they are incapable of using
available opportunities.

External appearance/signs Complaints of children who ave hearing

difficulties
 Deformities of the outer ear  Buzzing or ringing in the head
 Discharge from ear  Earaces
 Undue muscular tension  Nausea or dizziness
 Breathing through the mouth  Inability to understand directions
 Blank facial expression

Identification processes:

 Early detection
 Audiometric testing – pure-tone audiometry
 Educational assessment
 Communication and language assessments – expressive and receptive vocabulary skills,
syntactical or grammatical skills, nonlinguistic language competence
 Intelligence and achievement testing

IF THERE’S A CHILD IN YOUR CLASS WHO IS HARD

OF HEARING…..

Due to the growing implementation of mainstreaming, more

and more classroom teachers have hearing-impaired children in
the classroom. For such youngsters, school can be pleasant
experience-and a far more productive one- if you observe the
following rules:
1. Always- turn and face the class when you have something to say. Don’t “teach to
chalkboard”. It may seem easy and natural while you’re writing on it, but avoid it at all
times.
2. Use preferential seating. Seat youngster with hearing losses near the front of the

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 classroom, close to your desk. A child with a bad left ear should be seated on your right as
you face the class, a child with a bad right ear on your left.
2. Pay attention to your diction. Actors know that voices are projected not by speaking louder
but by emphasizing the consonants. Sounds like “h” and “th” require special emphasis to be
understood by a hearing impaired person.
4. Be vigilant to make certain you’re getting through. A student’s degree of participation in
class in one index of good learning. The child who appears disinterested simply may not be
hearing everything that is said.
3. 5. Stay in close touch with the parents. They can tell you whether medical treatment is
improving the child’s condition and what the long-term outlook is.
6. Help the child overcome any self-consciousness. If it is necessary to refer to the child’s
handicap, always do so in private, never in front of the class.
4. 7. Allow the child to participate in appropriate activities. There’s no reason for a younger
who wears a hearing aid not to take part in active sports-keeping the aid on- if he or she
wishes. Never compel a youngster who wants to join in a game to remain on the sidelines if
there is no medical reason for it.
5. 8. Schedule regular private conferences with the children. Some youngsters talk freely
about their problems, other does not. Handicapped children, especially, should always have
to opportunity to speak-up. In listening you may discover new ways to be helpful.

GUIDELINES TO TEACH STUDENTS WITH HEARING LOSS IN INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS

A. Accept the child positivity.Remember that the

hearing impaired child is a first child and secondly
Deaf.
B. Face the child directly, speak slowly and in normal
tones and be expressive.
C. Use normal speeches do not shout.
D. Encourage speech and language development.
E. Explain the simple terms to other students what
hearing loss means.
F. Avoid embarrassing the student with hearing loss
when talking about his problem.( Teachers and
students from IAVIs)
G. Determine the seating arrangements (move away
from background noise and place the child in the front seat close to the teacher)
H. Rephrase what you have said if you think the student has not fully understood.
I. Remember the distance increases listening difficulty so do not move around.
J. Consider appointing a student helper in the classroom or school.
K. Present all information visually at all times.
L. Beware of special language needs.
M. Help the hearing impaired child develop responsibility by giving tasks
N. Remember that concentrated looking and listening are tiring. Give breaks from by assigning
individual seat work.
O. Noise will interfere with listening and understanding. Keep the classroom as quite or hearing
friendly as possible.
P. Check each morning to ensure amplification devices such as hearing aids are in good working
order.
Q. Use all available resources for the hearing impaired student.

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 R. Use parents and family members as part of the team.
S. Give praise when it is deserve.

Learning the finger spell

Simple gestures to a person who is deaf..

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REFERENCES

Inciong, T., Quijano, Y., Capulong, Y. & Gregorio, J. (2007). Introduction to Special Education. Quezon
City: Rex Printing Press Company, Inc.

Handbook in Special Education SPED Division

Managing Children with Special Needs. A special Education Handbook

Inciong, T., Quijano, Y., Capulong, Y. & Gregorio, J. (2007)
K.Eileen Allen, G.E. Cowdery (2012). The Exceptional Child. Inclusion in EaryChidhood Education.
Wadsworth Cengage Learning

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