Millions of Americans experience some degree of hearing loss. The Social Security Administration (SSA) operates programs that provide cash disability benefits to people with permanent impairments like hearing loss, if they can show that their impairments meet stringent SSA criteria and their earnings are below an SSA threshold. The National Research Council convened an expert committee at the request of the SSA to study the issues related to disability determination for people with hearing loss. This volume is the product of that study. Hearing Loss: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits reviews current knowledge about hearing loss and its measurement and treatment, and provides an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the current processes and criteria. It recommends changes to strengthen the disability determination process and ensure its reliability and fairness. The book addresses criteria for selection of pure tone and speech tests, guidelines for test administration, testing of hearing in noise, special issues related to testing children, and the difficulty of predicting work capacity from clinical hearing test results. It should be useful to audiologists, otolaryngologists, disability advocates, and others who are concerned with people who have hearing loss.

This second edition of Developing Listening and Talking, Birth to Six remains a dynamic compilation of crucially important information for the facilitation of auditorally-based spoken language for today's infants and young children with hearing loss. This text is intended for graduate level training programs for professionals who work with children who have hearing loss and their families (teachers, therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists.) In addition, the book will be of great interest to undergraduate speech-language-hearing programs, early childhood education and intervention programs, and parents of children who have hearing loss. Responding to the crucial need for a comprehensive text, this book provides a framework for the skills and knowledge necessary to help parents promote listening and spoken language development. This second edition covers current and up-to-date information about hearing, listening, auditory technology, auditory development, spoken language development, and intervention for young children with hearing loss whose parents have chosen to have them learn to listen and talk. Additions include updated information about hearing instruments and cochlear implants and about ways that professionals can support parents in promoting their children's language and listening development. Information about preschool program selection and management has been included. This book is unique in its scholarly, yet thoroughly readable style. Numerous illustrations, charts, and graphs illuminate key ideas. This second edition should be the foundation of the personal and professional libraries of students, clinicians, and parents who are interested in listening and spoken language outcomes for children with hearing loss.

Written for parents, siblings and extended family members who want a better understanding of the impact hearing loss can have in their young loved one. Hearing loss in children can have more devastating effects than in adults because it can impair the ability to learn vocabulary, grammar, word order, idiomatic expressions and other aspects of verbal communication. This is a guide on how to address the most important educational issues and processes through the school years, including legal rights and legislation. It also addresses the profound emotional impact hearing loss can have on a child and how it can affect the entire family dynamic. Readers can even prevent some of the pitfalls common among families new to a child with hearing loss. This book also covers the latest technology available to these children, especially in the classroom, including assistive listening devices, hearing aids and cochlear implants and dispels myths associated with wearing amplified.

The fourth edition of Children With Hearing Loss: Developing Listening and Talking, Birth to Six is a dynamic compilation of important information for the facilitation of spoken language for infants and young children with hearing loss. This text covers current and up-to-date information about auditory brain development, listening scenarios, auditory technologies, spoken language development, and intervention for young children with hearing loss whose parents have chosen to have them learn to listen and talk. The book is divided into two parts. Part I, Audiological and Technological Foundations of Auditory Brain Development, consists of the first five chapters that lay the foundation for brain-based listening and talking. These chapters include neurological development and discussions of ear anatomy and physiology, pathologies that cause hearing loss, audiologic testing of infants and children, and the latest in amplification technologies. Part II, Developmental, Family-Focused Instruction for Listening and Spoken Language Enrichment, includes the second five chapters on intervention: listening, talking, and communicating through the utilization of a developmental and preventative model that focuses on enriching the child’s auditory brain centers. New to the Fourth Edition: *All technology information has been updated as has information about neurophysiology. *The reference list is exhaustive with the addition of the newest studies while maintaining seminal works about neurophysiology, technology, and listening and spoken language development. *New artwork throughout the book illustrates key concepts of family-focused listening and spoken language intervention. This text is intended for undergraduate and graduate-level training programs for professionals who work with children who have hearing loss and their families. This fourth edition is also directly relevant for parents, listening and spoken language specialists (LSLS Cert. AVT and LSLS Cert. AVEd), speech-language pathologists, audiologists, early childhood instructors, and teachers. In addition, much of the information in Chapters 1 through 5, and also Chapter 7 can be helpful to individuals of all ages who experience hearing loss, especially to newly diagnosed adults, as a practical “owner’s manual.”

A handbook that shows hearing impaired children and their parents how to manage challenging listening situations and teaches important concepts about hearing loss.

Auditory-Verbal Therapy: For Young Children with Hearing Loss and Their Families, and the Practitioners Who Guide Them provides a comprehensive examination of auditory-verbal therapy (AVT), from theory to evidence-based practice. Key features: Detailed exploration of AVT, including historical perspectives and current research that continue to drive clinical practiceEssential use of hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other implantable devices, and additional hearing technologies in AVTGoals of the AV practitioner and strategies used in AVT to develop listening, talking, and thinkingEffective parent coaching strategies in AVTBlueprint of the AVT sessionStep-by-step AVT session plans for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and early school-age childrenCritical partnerships of the family and the AV practitioner with the audiologist, speech-language pathologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, hearing resource teacher, and psychologistFamilies Journeys in AVT from 12 countries around the world In AVT, parents and caregivers become actively engaged as their child's first and most enduring teachers. Following an evidence-based framework, Auditory-Verbal Therapy: For Young Children with Hearing Loss and Their Families, and the Practitioners Who Guide Them demonstrates how AV practitioners work in tandem with the family to integrate listening and spoken language into the child's everyday life. The book concludes with personal family stories of hope, inspiration, and encouragement, written by parents from twelve countries across the world who have experienced the desired outcomes for their children following AVT. This book is relevant to AVT practitioners, administrators, teachers of children with hearing loss, special educators, audiologists, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, surgeons, primary care physicians, and parents.