Profound Hearing Loss - Increased Learning Curve and Solutions

Normal people or those with mild to moderate degree of hearing loss would usually hear sounds having loudness less than or up to 90 decibel. In people with profound hearing loss, the loudest sound that is produced by an audiometer (the instrument used to measure hearing) is not heard. Thus people with a profound degree of hearing loss cannot hear a sound of 90 decibel or above this loudness level.

In general, these people are said to have deafness. Treatment for profound hearing loss includes both surgical procedure and the use of hearing aids. Among the hearing aids, traditional hearing aids are of limited benefit. People with profound hearing loss usually wear Behind-the-Ear (BTE) hearing aids. As indicated by the name, these devices are worn behind the ear and are connected to a plastic ear mold, fitted in the outer ear of the person.

Another way of enabling people suffering from hair loss at profound level is a cochlear implant. The surgery emplaces an electronic stimulator that directly stimulates the nerves of hearing. The patient is usually required to stay in the hospital from one to several days after the implant.

Profound Hearing Loss and Learning in Students
Students suffering from profound hearing loss are unable to hear the loudest human speech, even if they have traditional hearing aids on their ears. Consequently, they miss most of the discussion and verbal teaching in the class. The effect is a significant lack of vocabulary, poor expression of ideas, difficulty in communicating, and dependence on nonverbal communication. However, many of these students are good at developing extra communication skills. Some of them succeed in developing listening and verbal communication; others learn to use sign language for conveying their thoughts or ideas.

What Teachers Need to Do?
To make the class more meaningful to students suffering from profound hearing loss, teachers need to set up the physical environment. Students with hearing impairment should be given front rows and the teacher should teach at angles where his face and hands are clearly visible to the deaf students.

Appropriate teaching strategies also demand repetition of lesson while looking directly at the students with impaired hearing. It is very helpful to provide such students lecture notes and handouts a few days before teaching the same material in the class. If the normally hearing students of the class ask a question or make a comment, repeat it while looking at the students with impaired hearing, and then answer or respond. Write any new or difficult words on the board and allow the students to lip-read them from you.

Next article: Hearing Loss Treatment – Different Type of Deafness Problems