{"id":1555,"date":"2021-05-14T10:19:35","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T17:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oregonent.com\/?p=1555"},"modified":"2021-05-19T10:47:58","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T17:47:58","slug":"the-connection-between-hearing-loss-speech-comprehension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oregonent.com\/the-connection-between-hearing-loss-speech-comprehension\/","title":{"rendered":"The Connection Between Hearing Loss & Speech Comprehension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speech comprehension is the ability to take in speech sounds, understand their meaning and store the information. There\u2019s a strong link between hearing ability and speech comprehension, as children rely on their hearing to develop their ability to comprehend speech. Because of this, it\u2019s important to be proactive about your child\u2019s hearing health.<\/p>\n

How Hearing Loss Affects Speech Comprehension<\/h2>\n

\"Children<\/h2>\n

Hearing loss makes it difficult to distinguish between different sounds and words, which in turn makes it difficult to understand what is being said.<\/p>\n

Children with hearing loss often have difficulty understanding abstract words, like from, for<\/em> and about, <\/em>though tend to have an easier time with concrete concepts like dog, ball <\/em>and pink. <\/em>They also often have trouble with homonyms such as \u201cyour cup is on the right<\/em>\u201d and \u201cyour mom is right.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition, hearing loss makes it difficult to distinguish between certain speech sounds like consonants. The sounds s, sh, t, k <\/em>and p<\/em> are notoriously difficult. This means a child may say \u201cI like cat<\/em>\u201d instead of \u201cI like cats<\/em>,\u201d because they cannot detect the s<\/em> sound at the end.<\/p>\n

The Importance of Early Intervention<\/h2>\n

Hearing loss in children leads to poor speech comprehension, which in turn leads to problems in school. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) reports that children with untreated hearing loss are likely to fall behind their peers between one and four grade levels<\/u><\/a>, and those with severe hearing loss may never advance beyond third-grade level.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, children who receive intervention services like hearing aids or cochlear implants tend to perform just as well as their peers.<\/p>\n

Watch Out for the Signs of Hearing Loss<\/h2>\n

Every child is different, so there is no clear set of signals a child could be experiencing hearing loss. However, there are general guidelines to look out for.<\/p>\n

For babies:<\/p>\n