Hearing aids are the primary audiologic management tool for children who are hard of hearing (CHH). Many children receive benefit from their hearing aids, but some CHH do not achieve age-appropriate language levels even when fitted with hearing aids early in life. These children may require a change in their intervention (e.g., cochlear implantation, additional language supports) to better support optimal auditory-linguistic access. However, how and when to make these changes can present a challenge to professionals and families. This uncertainty may lead to a “failure-based model” of management, allowing for language challenges to build over time before changes to intervention are made. This talk will discuss the utility of audiologic assessments (e.g., pure tone average) and measures of auditory experience (e.g., Speech Intelligibility Index) for identifying children with hearing aids who are at risk for spoken language delays, with data-driven recommendations for modifying intervention in CHH.
Learning objectives:
- Discuss how audiologic assessment and measures of auditory experience can be used to inform changes in intervention for children who are hard of hearing.
- Identify the levels of auditory access that is needed to support spoken language development for children who are hard of hearing.
- Define auditory dosage.
