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Early intervention investigation:

Children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

29 April 2004

Child Development for Early Intervention

Instructor: Barbara Weigand

Grade: A+

By: Todd Bauerle

Page 1 of 4

Historical Views of Deafness

The medical profession has not always stood on solid scientific ground concerning theories regarding the cause of deafness. For example, during the 1800’s doctors assumed afflictions such as deafness were curses from God. Responses to disabilities were based on faith; meaning that causes and cures were also faith based. They did not have access to the medical and scientific knowledge we have today (Champie, 1996). This allowed for confusion, social stigma, and improper diagnosis of hearing loss.

Early medical opinions assumed that an individual developed deafness because they had suffered from either fever or a severe headache, thus resulting in the illness. Other causal theories for deafness are absurd. A diagnosis such as; the ears being too dry, a fall from a high roof top, or that their “teeth grew up to far”, was not uncommon (Champie, 1996). Cures for these ailments tended to be centered on ritual faith healers, magic waters, or special tonics and brews (Champie, 1996). These ‘causes’ of deafness seem far-fetched in present day medicine, but the equally outrageous ‘cures’ are still being used when people are desperate enough.

Current Medical Knowledge on Deafness

Current medical information and research has provided a great deal of scientifically based information on the frequency, types and causes of deafness and hearing loss. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that moderate to severe loss of hearing in both ears occurs in 1-2 of every 1,000 U.S. children. For most of these children, the cause behind the hearing loss is unknown. A total 6 in every 1,000 children born has some degree of hearing loss. This makes hearing impairment the most frequently diagnosed newborn health condition. When seen in context of hearing impairment in all children, 20 to 30 percent of all hearing loss occurs during infancy and early childhood (BEGINNINGS, n.d.).

Raver (1999) discusses several different types of hearing loss. Sensorineural hearing loss refers to a condition of the inner ear, the cochlea. This form of hearing loss is permanent or resulting in significant decrease in sensitivity to sound and decrease in clarity of sound. Conductive hearing loss indicates a decreased sensitivity to sound, but not clarity. A person with mixed hearing loss will most likely have trouble with both clarity and sound sensitivity, or loudness. Another hearing condition is auditory neuropathy, which occurs when the outer hair cells of the ear function normally, but a problem exists with the inner hair cells in the cochlea and the auditory brain stem. Auditory neuropathy is seen in newborns that spend time in intensive care units (Yoshinaga-Itano, 1998).

Just as there are many different kinds of deafness and hearing loss, there are many different causes. Noise-induced hearing loss has been on the rise in current years (Champie, 1996). The most obvious reason for this is the increase of exposure to extremely loud music and pounding bass frequencies that damage eardrums. However this type of hearing loss is rising in young adults, not infants and toddlers. Genetic, or congenital, deafness only accounts for 50% of the cases reported, and 90% of their parents are hearing (Meadow-Orlans, 1995; Magnuson, 2000). Sensorineural hearing loss is associated with family history and heredity of deafness (Diefendorf, 1999), as well as other genetic conditions and neurodegenerative disorders.

Prospective parents need to always be aware because complications during pregnancy put the child at risk for deafness. Champie (1996) found cases where high fevers, infections, and cases of rubella, measles, and mumps still cause hearing impairment, even though these risk factors are treatable or preventable via vaccination. Some evidence also links deafness to drug abuse, specifically with infants born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Dilantin Syndrome (Champie, 1996; Meadow-Orlans, 1995). Deafness is not only limited to alcohol consumption or illegal drugs. An overdose of over the counter medications may cause temporary or permanent hearing loss. Additionally technological advances make it now possible to sustain the life of low birth weight infants who are naturally at risk for a multitude of disabilities and conditions, including deafness (Champie, 1996; Meadow-Orlans, 1995).

It should also be noted that in spite of the medical view of deafness as pathology, deaf adults involved in the Deaf community have a different opinion. To them the term “Deaf” refers to a differentiating characteristic, an identifier (McKinley, 2000). This view becomes more critical in the discussion of specific early interventions available and parents’ preference for treatment and educational options.