2010 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 139-148
To investigate the usefulness of hearing assessment tools for early determination of hearing in infants, we evaluated the functional use of sound by fifteen infants fitted with hearing aids or cochlear implants for various degrees of hearing impairment (profound, severe and moderate) including several developmental retardations. Evaluations were performed longitudinally making use of two assessment tools: ”Tanaka’s Developmental Test of Auditory Function” and the ”Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS).”
In the profound group, scores were low before implantation but improved sharply after cochlear implantation. In the severe group, shifts in scores were thought to be attributable to rapid auditory development, aggravated hearing loss, adverse living situations, and developmental delays. In the moderate group, all scores were higher than those of the other two groups.
The above trends were closely similar using both scales: the more severe the hearing loss, the lower were the scores.
This study indicated the usefulness of hearing assessment tools for very early determination of hearing in infants with hearing loss.
