HEARING LOSS AND IT’S IMPLICATION ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF LEARNERS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT
CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION
Pupils with hearing impairments have the same rights as all other children in spite of their communication barriers. These include the right to access all basic necessities of which education is not an exception. It is however noted that lack of communication hinders them from being able to express their views and receive the same attention that other children receive, be it at home, in school, or in the community where they live. This chapter therefore has eight sub-headings that present the background of the study, statement of problem, purpose of study and study objectives. It will further state research questions, significance of the study, limitations and definition of terms used in the writing.
Background of the study
Hearing provides a basis for almost all kinds of learning an individual is subjected to. From the time a child is born, he/she is at least after some weeks expected to respond to sound stimuli. This becomes possible if one’s auditory systems are perfectly developed. Right at a tender age, children with good auditory perception are able to respond to voices of parents as well as identify them using auditory discrimination. The ability to learn effectively is supported to the fullest by the integration of all the five senses a human being has of which hearing is no exception. In fact, it is significant to note that the early discrimination and response to sound stimuli recorded by the child marks very important characteristics of early development of the auditory system that makes parents cheerful.
When the child expresses inability to discriminate sound sensations and is unable to respond to sound cues, it denotes a hearing impairment (Moores, 1987). In this case, majority of the Nigerian society believes that the inability of the child to hear would exert a number of challenges on his or her learning. The calling of names even begins at a very tender age of children with hearing loss. Terms like: hard of hearing, deaf or hearing-impaired are used to describe a child with a hearing loss (Moores, 1996). The terms may refer to hearing impairment, hard of hearing and deafness. Even when these children are sent to schools, society sees more challenges that they are likely to face than achievements. In fact, most parents sacrifice sending learners with hearing loss to residential schools as a relief so that they are out of their sight. The attitude that society has makes such children grow up with minimal exposure that further makes them exhibit peculiar developmental patterns like inattention, failure to complete given tasks and other memory related issues. However, it can be roughly estimated that members of the community subject majority of children with hearing loss to underperformance in terms of academic achievements.
Hearing loss therefore range from mild to profound depending on the cause, seriousness and on-set (Kirk et.al 1996). Indeed, most academic achievements, which involve reasoning skills related to concepts, abstractions and mental representations, are directly dependent on hearing. Sound to object association that is among basic cognitive processes are absent in the children with hearing loss which limit their modes of learning. The elements of communication that the children with hearing impairment use do not on their own meet the demands of holistic learning. The use of sight alone to learn poses a number of constraints to the academic progression of children with hearing impairment.
It is also further observed that hearing loss can lead to social isolation for several reasons. First, the child experiences delayed social development that is in large part tied to delayed language acquisition. There is also a direct link to their inability to pick up auditory social cues. This can result in a deaf person becoming generally irritable. A child who uses sign language, or identifies with the Deaf sub-culture does not generally experience this isolation, particularly if he or she attends a school for the deaf, but may conversely experience isolation from his parents if they do not know sign language. This also becomes so common in the community because most people are not familiar with sign language. It is also imperative to note that even the communities around deaf schools have no communicative skills that can enhance the learning of pupils with hearing impairment.
It is in fact also observed that the child who has a hearing impairment but uses some oral language may be rejected by deaf peers. In an understandable hesitation in abandoning the use of existent verbal and speech-reading skills, some pupils with hearing impairment in the deaf community can view this as a rejection of their own culture and its mores, and therefore will reject the individual preemptively (Kirk et al 1997). The latter affects the children’s performance as learning involves to a great extent adequate socialization and integration of other senses.
It can further be argued that most children with hearing loss tend to take longer than they are supposed to in order to clear examination grades like; grade seven and nine for example. Most of the children repeat as many times as possible to pass and progress to another level, a delay alluding to the impact of hearing loss on their academic performance (Heward and Orlansky, 1988). In Nigeria, studies related to this have been conducted by other people though there have been no publications.
Considering the above, this study sought to find out in detail the implications that hearing impairment exerts on the academic progression of children with hearing impairment in the quest to come up with strategies that would help them attain their education as a human right.
Statement of the problem
Hearing loss exerts a number of implications on the learning of pupils with hearing impairment. Their inability to hear or the hearing of little sound and speech initiate’s adverse academic implications that leads to their underperformance. Lack of adequate role models and resource persons brings about a delay in abstract reasoning necessary for effective academic performances (Heward and Orlansky, 1988). From the preliminary investigations, it was evident that there was no research information that sought to bring out the underscored experiences among learners with hearing impairments. The identified information gaps justified the need for this study.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study was to highlight the Hearing loss and it’s implication on the academic performance of learner’s with hearing impairment.The study found out that pupils with hearing loss have very few role models and other resource persons to help them in day-to-day academic studies both at school and at home. The study also came up with suggested solutions to the academic challenges the learners experienced
Study objectives
The study was guided by the following objectives: –
- To find out the implications of hearing loss on academic performance on pupils with Hearing loss.
- To establish how the type and on-set of hearing loss affect the children’s performance.
- To evaluate how hearing loss affects pupils with hearing impairment in clearing national examinations and pass to other grades.
- To determine availability of deaf role models and resource persons for the pupils with hearing loss.
Study questions
The study was guided by the following questions: –
- What are the challenges of hearing loss on academic performance of pupils with hearing impairment?
- How does the type and on-set of hearing loss affect the performance for pupils with hearing impairment?
- Do hearing loss make pupils with hearing impairment take long to clear national examinations and pass to other grades?
- Are there deaf role models and resource persons for the pupils with hearing loss?
- What recommendations will the study make to educators after the findings?
Significance of the study
It is hoped that the findings of this study will reveal all sorts of implications that hearing loss impose on the learning of pupils with hearing impairment, create stimulation to education providers to solicit for proper and refined techniques, methods and teaching strategies to help alleviate the academic challenges hearing impaired pupils encounter. It is further expected that the findings of this study will make those setting national examination adjust the content in the papers to match the learning needs for the Hearing impaired learners. It is also hoped that the findings of this study will enable stakeholders provide resources to train people in sign language especially those found in communities closer to Deaf schools to help facilitate and promote the education of the hearing impaired pupils.
Delimitation of the study
The site of the study was School Ebonyi state in for the Hearing impaired. The targeted respondents are administrators, teachers and pupils at that school.
Limitations
Lack of adequate finances limited the carrying out of the study as the researcher is on self-sponsorship. The second factor is time as the most precious resource due to the busy timetable of the institution. The limitations made the researcher to have limited number of days at the site of the study cutting short the interviews with the pupils. This can to some extent affect the generalization of the study. However, be assured that the mentioned limitations will not distort the validity of the findings.
Operational definition of Key Terms
- Auditory perception- ability to detect sound through hearing.
- Bilateral hearing loss– loss of hearing on both ears (Niskar et. al 1998).
- Deaf- sensory deficiency that prevents a person from receiving the sound stimulus in all forms (Moores, 2001).
- Hearing impairment– an impediment to effectively use the sense of hearing as a result of damage on the ear or part of it (Moores, 1996).
- Hearing loss– any loss of sound sensitivity: partial or total because of some defection in the auditory system (Moores, 1987).
- Implications– challenges associated with a particular problem.
- Minimal sensori-neural hearing loss- loss of hearing due to damage on the auditory nerves (Bess et. al, 1998).
- Post-lingual hearing loss– loss of hearing after acquisition of basics of oral language Boothroyd, (1988), in Kirk et.al (1997).
- Prelingual deafness- loss of hearing before acquisition of basics of oral language Boothroyd, (1988), in Kirk et.al (1997).
- Sub-vocalization– both meaningful and meaningless sounds babies make before learning how to talk.
- Unilateral hearing loss– loss of hearing on one ear (right or left) (Niskar et. al 1998).
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