ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of the intervention,rehabilitation and speech development of children with severe hearing loss in some rural areas.Methods 61 children,including 35 males and 26 females,were diagnosed as severe hearing loss with ABR and 40 Hz-AERP from June 2004 to July 2008.All the children failed hearing screening or visited the hospital as outpatients.The ages ranged from 2 to 72 months with the average age of 17.59 months.During telephone follow-up,the questionnaire was used to gather the data regarding the usage of hearing aids,hearing and speech rehabilitation,speech development,and communication abilities.Results 33 (54.10%) children were fitted with hearing aids,and 2 (3.28%) received cochlear implants,while 26(42.62 %) neither had hearing aids nor cochlear implants.10 cases with hearing aids also had speech training,whereas 23 children with hearing aids did not receive the training.2 cases with cochlear implants and 2 cases with hearing aids were found to have good speech development and communication ability,while 31 cases with hearing aids had delayed speech development.26 cases without any devices had to rely on sign language for their commumication.Conclusion Children in rural area with severe hearing loss experience greater speech and communication difficulties because many of them have no access to intervention and speech training.The results suggest that it would be very important to increase public awareness and educate parents to have their children wear hearing aids and receive speech training.