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Summary of Findings
I. What is hearing impairment?
Hearing is the ability to perceive sound. A person suffering from hearing impairment
haS difficulty in perceiving or identifying sound clearly due to auditory problems. Hearing impairment is the
complete or partial loss of the ability to hear in one or both ears, and can be temporary or permanent.
Permanent impairment can lead to a wide range of disability, from difficulty following speech in noisy
environments to profound deafness, and may result from a variety of underlying disorders. Hearing loss is
one of the commonest disabilities, with over 90% of the over-eighty population expected to have some
reduction in hearing, alongside smaller but still significant numbers of younger people. Awareness of the
substantial consequences of hearing loss is low among young people, with 66% believing that hearing loss
would not dramatically affect their lives. The impairment may be unilateral or bilateral. The degree
of hearing loss can be classified into five levels as listed below:

Degree of Ability to perceive sound

Hearing
Loss
Difficult to identify soft sound such as whispering
Moderate Unable to hear clearly what others are saying
during conversation. Hearing aids are necessary.
Moderately- Unable to clearly hear loud noises such as
severe telephone ring
Severe Can only hear very loud noises and sounds such
as shouting or vacuum cleaner noise
Profound Difficult to perceive any sound

II. What are the symptoms of children with hearing impairment?

During infancy:
1-3 No response to sudden sound such as banging of door or
months ringing of doorbell.
old
Unable to locate the sound source.
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7-9 Do not look at the person being mentioned, e.g. “Where
months is Uncle Tom?”
old
10-12 No response to their names being called or frequently
months used words or phrases, e.g. “No”.
old

During childhood:
● Delayed response to sound
● Cannot hear clearly what others are saying
● Show difficulty in locating the sound source
● Pay more than usual attention to speakers’ facial expression and lip movement
while listening
● Give irrelevant answers or misinterpret instructions
● Request for repetition during conversation
● Show poorer ability to understand speech ` in a noisy environment
● Tend to turn up the sound volume of television
● Incorrect pronunciation
● Delayed language development
● Poor attention in class
● Frequent use of gestures to express themselves, e.g. pointing to what they want
● Easily irritated as a result of communication difficulty
* Parents should be alert to the possibility of hearing impairment if their child
shows the above signs, and seek medical advice as soon as possible.
III. What causes hearing impairment?
Congenital factors Acquired factors
● Heredity ● Excessive earwax
● Viral infection during ● Eardrum perforation
 pregnancy, e.g.
rubella infection
● Congenital defects such as
anomalies of the ear, nose or
throat
● Premature birth, birth
asphyxia,
excessive bilirubin, etc.
● Middle ear effusion or
infection
● Otosclerosis or ear ossicle
dislocation
● Sequelae of childhood
diseases such as
measles and meningitis
● Head or ear trauma
● Prolonged exposure to loud
noise
● Medication that may lead to
hearing
damage

IV. How does hearing impairment affect children’s development?

Language
● Delayed language development with unclear speech and incorrect pronunciation.
Emotion and behavior
● Easy to have emotional and behavioral problems as a result of difficulties in
verbally expressing himself/ herself
Self-confidence
● Lack of self-confidence with poor self-image for being always mistaken to be slow
in response.

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Social interaction
● socially excluded by peers due to poor comprehension and expression, or
actively avoid social contact and communication
Academic performance
● Academic performance being affected due to difficulty in receiving the correct
messages

* The impact of hearing impairment on the child is determined by a variety of

factors.
Generally speaking, early treatment and training can help to minimize the
developmental problems caused by hearing impairment.
V. Can hearing impairment be cured?
This depends on which part of the auditory system is affected.
If the impairment is incurable, the child may need to use a hearing aid or receive
a cochlear implant, depending on the nature of the lesion. With the help of
appropriate auditory and speech training, even children with severe hearing
impairment could gradually show improvement in response to sound.

VI. How can children’s hearing be protected?

● Cover the ears in noisy environment, such as construction sites where pile
drivers are used, and avoid staying in such places for too long
● Do not shout directly at children’s ears
● Do not play loud music to the child for prolonged periods
● Do not bottle feed infants lying on their backs to avoid backflow of milk into
The nasopharynx, leading to otitis media

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● Be careful NG
in the use of LUNGSOD
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● Seek immediate treatment in case of high fever or upper respiratory
tract infection
 ● Do not hit or slap children on their ears. Avoid picking ears or
putting foreign
objects into ear canals
* Those with family history of congenital hearing impairment should
seek genetic
counselling.
* Women should ensure that they have received rubella vaccination
before
pregnancy.

VII. How can parents help their child with hearing impairment?
● Understand and accept the developmental progress of the child
● Provide timely fitting of hearing aids or cochlear implants as
appropriate
● Train the child to make good use of his/her residual hearing
● Allow more time when communicating with the child

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