Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Children

Project Proposal

This project will address several questions:

1. What causes a sensorineural hearing loss in children?
2. What does the world sound like to those with mild, moderate, severe, and profound hearing losses?
3. What treatment methods are available for children with varying degrees of hearing loss, and how effective are theses methods in improving hearing?

Abstract

It can be difficult for people with normal hearing to understand how the world sounds to children with sensorineural hearing loss. To demonstrate this condition, normal speech was recorded using a computer sound editor, and then filtered to simulate varying degrees of hearing loss, including mild, moderate, severe, and profound. The beneficial effect of a hearing aid can be seen by amplifying the filtered sound. Severe cases of hearing loss can only be treated using a cochlear implant, which directly stimulates the nerves of the inner ear with electrical signals. A cochlear implant was simulated using Csound, a sound synthesis program. These measures, in turn, are able to show the stark difference in the ability to hear sounds based on different degrees of hearing loss, both aided and unaided.

Outline

I. Introduction

1. Incidence of hearing loss in children
2. Questions being addressed

1. Definition
2. Hearing acuity vs. Hearing perception
3. Degrees of hearing loss
4. Effects on speech and language

1. Definition
2. Causes
3. Effects on speech and language

1. Varying degrees of sensorineural loss unaided
2. Varying degrees of sensorineural loss with a hearing aid
3. Varying degrees of sensorineural loss with cochlear implants
4. Recognition test results

1. Aiding speech and language
2. Hearing Aids
3. Cochlear Implants

1. Summary of research and results