EFFECT OF HEARING AIDS ON SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILDREN WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT

Abstract

Hearing impairment (HI) in youngsters can be destructive to their discourse and language improvement OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of hearing aids user and non-user on speech and language improvement of the children with hearing impairment METHODS: This study is based on comparative cross sectional study design. Participants were selected through simple random sampling with age range from 1 to 10 years. The study was conducted at the University of Lahore, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Audiology Centre, Hamza Foundation Academy for the Deaf March 2020 to January 2021. All parents had filled the Performa that contains details regarding Socio-demographic characteristics related to name, age, gender, causes of hearing loss, types of hearing loss, degree of hearing loss, types of hearing aids, duration of hearing aids usage and a check list of speech and language development. Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 23. Statistical methods used include descriptive analysis (mean, range and standard deviation), Chi Square test applied RESULTS: Results shows that the individuals response greater than 75% were consider in mild language delay which was seen in 26 (29.1%) of the population, the individuals response 50% were consider moderate language delay which was seen in 17 (19.0%) of the population while the individuals response less than 50% were consider in severe language delay which was seen in 13 (14.5%) hearing aids users which shows no improvement whereas 100 % of the non using individuals showed no improvement CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that the use of hearing aid can help in the development of speech and language of hearing impaired patients. Also, the span of HA experience cooperated with the supported hearing to impact results. These outcomes offer help for the arrangement of well-fitted HAs to youngsters with HL.

KEYWORDS: Hearing loss, Hearing impaired, Hearing aids, speech and language development.