Developmental Outcomes in Children with Unilateral and Mild/Moderate Hearing Loss

The primary goal of the present study is to begin to develop a program of research to capture developmental outcomes in children with hearing loss, with a current focus on unilateral (UL) and mild/moderate (MM) hearing loss. The specific aim is to investigate cognitive, educational, and socio-emotional outcomes in individuals with UL/MM hearing loss. It is hypothesized that individuals with UL/MM hearing loss who receive less support services in school (as identified by a formal IEP) will demonstrate poorer educational performance (as identified by grade retention and teacher report) than individuals with UL/MM hearing loss who receive formal support services in school. Educational performance will also be compared to IQ-matched individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. Additionally, age of identification, age of amplification, and age of intervention services is hypothesized to predict verbal IQ (as measured by WISC-IV Verbal IQ) for individuals with UL/MM hearing loss.