A friend of mine sent out a Facebook message asking what are the biggest misconceptions about hearing loss. These may not be the biggest but they’re the first ten that came to mind when I pondered this interesting question.

Misunderstanding #1: When you get hearing aids or a cochlear implant processor(s) you are “fixed” and can hear normally. While my daughter and I are now deaf after our bilateral cochlear implant surgeries, we test and function as if we have a mild hearing loss when we wear our processors. Mild is a far cry from completely deaf, but it means that we still have difficulties hearing in some situations. The same goes for many people who use hearing aids. Devices can certainly improve your hearing, but they do not make your hearing as good as new.

Misunderstanding #2: Over-enunciating words makes it easier for you to understand them. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Drawing out sounds and words makes it much harder for a person with hearing loss to understand what you are saying. Not only do the words sound distorted, but they are more difficult to speechread as well. Usually people who are hard to understand are speaking too quickly. To be better understood, slow down the pace of your dialogue, not the individual words.

Misunderstanding #3: Sign language is the “natural” language of all adults and children with hearing loss. This is a myth that is perpetuated by proponents of deaf culture. While many deaf people learn and use sign language as their primary language, this is not true of all people with hearing loss. There are millions of people with varying degrees of hearing impairment which occurred at different stages of life. Also, not all people with hearing loss are visual learners.

Misunderstanding #4: You can’t learn to speak if you’re deaf. With the advanced technologies available in hearing aids, cochlear implants and assistive listening devices, many people are more easily able to hear, learn and use spoken language. Early intervention is important to the success of language development. Infants and children should be accurately diagnosed and fitted with appropriate amplification as early as possible. But older kids have proven that sheer determination and hard work can enable them to learn to speak at later ages. Heather Artinian, of Sound and Fury fame and Ryan Duchoeny, a Canadian boy whose father took his cochlear implant fight public are proof of that.

Misunderstanding #5: You’re either deaf from birth or you lose your hearing as you age. Hearing loss can occur at any time during your life. You can be born completely deaf or with a partial hearing loss. You can lose your hearing gradually or suddenly at any age. When and how you lose your hearing can play a part in what communication method you use, what kind of school you attend and how you define or identify yourself.

Misunderstanding #6: Banging pots (or anything else) near a baby can help you determine with certainty whether they have any hearing loss. If a baby is completely deaf, banging pots near them may be able to alert you to a problem, but it also may not. While the baby may not hear the banging noise, they may see your movement and their eyes or head may turn, making you think they actually heard the noise. Another important thing to note is that a baby may have some hearing loss, allowing them to hear some noises and speech sounds but not others. If you think your child may have a hearing loss, head to a pediatric audiologist who has experience testing young children as soon as possible. A good place to find one is to contact your local children’s hospital or a school or program for deaf and hard of hearing children.

Misunderstanding #7: Doctors are knowledgeable about hearing loss and can guide you on what to do when you suspect your child may have it. Since hearing loss is such a low incidence disability, many pediatricians and doctors have little, if any, experience dealing with it. Often, they do not undersand the importance of an early, accurate diagnosis and its relationship to language development. It is up to the parents or caregivers to move quickly in getting the hearing loss properly diagnosed and appropriately addressed with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Testing should also be done to determine if there are receptive and expressive language delays. Finding a good school or program for children with hearing loss and/or a speech language pathologist may be necessary.

Misunderstanding #8: It is the mother’s fault that a baby has hearing loss. Most parents of children born with hearing loss have normal hearing themselves. In fact, many parents will note that there is no hearing loss apparent in their family history. While some causes of hearing loss have been identified, there are many that have not. Hearing loss can skip generations in familial history. Some hearing loss is not genetic. Unfortunately, mothers tend to blame themselves when they don’t know how the hearing loss occurred. Nothing happened during pregnancy that caused a hearing loss.

Misunderstanding #9: A mother who questions her baby’s hearing is being overbearing or imagining things. As stated in Misconception #7, pediatricians don’t see hearing loss often in infants. Time and again mothers report that they were told they needed to calm down, get a job or something else of that nature when they consulted their child’s doctor about a suspected hearing loss. My daughter’s first pediatrician told me that I should stop worrying, there is a big window of language development when I questioned why my daughter’s tiny vocabulary came to a sudden standstill.

Misunderstanding #10: It is acceptable to wait weeks or months to get an accurate diagnosis and fitting of amplification. Incredibly, doctors and audiologists will tell parents they need to wait several weeks for an appointment. It is NOT okay. The longer a child goes without hearing, the more they will be delayed in their receptive and expressive language skills. This translates into more months or years of therapy to help them catch up with their same aged peers. It is common for children with hearing loss to be held back before kindergarten so that they have an extra year to work on their language delays. Another possible issue is that children may become sullen or withdrawn without access to sounds and speech. Be proactive, demand that your child be seen by professionals as early as possible. If they are not responsive, seek out other hearing health care providers. You need people who understand how important it is for your child to be able to hear.

© 2009 Paula Rosenthal and Taylor Rose, Inc. All rights reserved.

This article is one of many in the Paula’s Pearls group of syndicated content from HearingExchange. It may be reproduced under certain conditions. Email Paula for further information. Click here for the complete list of Paula’s Pearls articles available for syndication.

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