Developments of children with hearing loss according to the age of diagnosis, amplification, and training in the early childhood period.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of hearing loss during early childhood on the development of children according to the age of diagnosis, amplification and training.

Methods: In the study, a total of 169 children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, who have the chronological average age of 26.4 months, have been examined. All children are unilateral cochlear implant users and have no known additional impairments and/or diseases other than their hearing loss. The development of children with hearing loss, divided into three groups according to age of diagnosis, amplification, and training has been identified using the Denver Development Screening Test-II (DDST-II), and then, general development and sub-development results of these age characteristics have been compared accordingly.

Results: As a result of the study, 105 (62.1%) out of 169 children identified with DDST-II have been found to be normal, 48 (28.4%) of them suspicious, and 16 (9.5%) children are found to be abnormal. It appears that the children who have been diagnosed before 6 months, instrumented between 3 and 6 months, and started to auditory-verbal training are revealed to have normal skills in their personal-social, language, fine, and gross motor field capabilities. As the age of diagnosis and intervention is delayed, the rate of delay in the development domains seems to be increasing, which is statistically significant (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Children with hearing loss develop similar outcomes in comparison with their normal auditory peers once they are diagnosed before 6 months and benefit from early intervention services.