The development of effective communication skills is an essential accomplishment of early childhood. Poor communication abilities at the end of 5 years can have a cascading effect on social, academic, and later occupational success. Therefore, interventions that protect children from risks of speech and language delay have important long-term effects on their quality of life.
Hearing loss (HL) during infancy and early childhood is a well-known contributor to poor speech and language development. This is because HL restricts a child’s access to speech and language input. The limitation can vary—children with mild HL may face minimal difficulties, while those with severe to profound HL may have almost complete restriction. As a result, speech and language development is negatively affected.
Verbal language is a human skill that is acquired gradually through a defined, step-by-step process. In normal-hearing children, language is naturally learned through daily life interactions without special training. However, in children with hearing loss, this natural process is hampered, leading to language disorders. For these children, normal language acquisition requires special training depending on the degree of hearing loss. Late identification or intervention often results in restricted vocabulary, grammatical problems, and academic difficulties.
Amplification devices play an important role in supporting speech and language development in children with HL. The primary function of a hearing aid (HA) is to amplify sound to levels above the listener’s threshold, making more of the speech spectrum audible. In young children, one of the key purposes of hearing aids is to enhance speech audibility, thereby improving overall speech and language development.
