Changes in auditory behaviors of multiply handicapped children with deafness after hearing aid fitting.
CONCLUSIONS
The early diagnosis of deafness and the early fitting of hearing aids in multiply handicapped children are recommended for language development in these children even when their neurological or mental status is poor.


METHODS
The subjects consisted of 5 hearing-impaired infants with no other problems and 28 hearing-impaired children with multiple handicaps. Behavioral audiometry and auditory brainstem responses were used for evaluating hearing impairment. The 5 hearing-impaired infants with no other problems underwent hearing aid fitting at approximately 1 year of age and the 28 hearing-impaired children with multiple handicaps underwent hearing aid fitting at various times from 1 to 5 years of age. The effects of their hearing aids were compared on the basis of auditory behavioral changes. The developmental scale of auditory behaviors in infancy that we proposed was introduced to evaluate the development of auditory behaviors.


RESULTS
The auditory behaviors of the hearing-impaired children with no other problems showed constant changes with age after hearing aid fitting. However, among the 28 hearing-impaired children with multiple handicaps, 17 showed improvement in auditory behaviors, 5 showed no improvement in auditory behaviors because of the associated severe motor and mental retardation, and epilepsy, and 6 were unable to adapt to wearing hearing aids.
Kaga
Kimitaka
K
Department of Otolaryngology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. kimikaga-tky@umin.ac,jp
Shindo
Mitsuko
M
Tamai
Fumi
F
Tanaka
Yoshisato
Y
D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001299:Audiometry / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D004827:Epilepsy; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*