Children with Unilateral Hearing Loss

In the United States alone, unilateral hearing loss (UHL) affects 0.1 to 5% of school-aged children and 0.04 to 3.4% of infants at birth. Several studies from the 1980s and 1990s raised the specter that UHL in children was not as benign as common wisdom suggested. In children 6 to 12 years old, UHL is associated with significantly poorer oral language skills and vocabulary intelligence quotient scores. Children with UHL are at higher risk of receiving individualized educational plans in school and speech therapy. Quality of life in children also may be negatively affected by UHL, similar to children with bilateral hearing loss. Although a growing number of audiologists, deaf educators, and otolaryngologists acknowledge the problems that many children with UHL experience, the larger medical and educational communities still tend to discount UHL as a problem for children. Further research is necessary to identify the children with UHL who may benefit from interventions and to determine which interventions are most effective in children with UHL.