Symptoms of Psychopathology in Hearing-Impaired Children

Abstract

Objectives:Children with hearing loss are at risk of developing psychopathology, which has detrimental consequences for academic and psychosocial functioning later in life. Yet, the causes of the extensive variability in outcomes are not fully understood. Therefore, the authors wanted to objectify symptoms of psychopathology in children with cochlear implants or hearing aids, and in normally hearing peers, and to identify various risk and protective factors.Design:The large sample (mean age = 11.8 years) included three subgroups with comparable age, gender, socioeconomic status, and nonverbal intelligence: 57 with cochlear implants, 75 with conventional hearing aids, and 129 children who were normally hearing. Psychopathology was assessed by means of self- and parent-report measures.Results:Children with cochlear implants showed similar levels of symptoms of psychopathology when compared with their normally hearing peers, but children with hearing aids had significantly higher levels of psychopathological symptoms, while their hearing losses were approximately 43 dB lower than those of children with implants. Type of device was related with internalizing symptoms but not with externalizing symptoms. Furthermore, lower age and sufficient language and communication skills predicted less psychopathological symptoms.Conclusions:Children who are deaf or profoundly hearing impaired and have cochlear implants have lower levels of psychopathological symptoms than children with moderate or severe hearing loss who have hearing aids. Most likely, it is not the type of hearing device but rather the intensity of the rehabilitation program that can account for this difference. This outcome has major consequences for the next generation of children with hearing loss because children with profound hearing impairment still have the potential to have levels of psychopathology that are comparable to children who are normally hearing.

Parents' Perception of Health-Related Quality of Life in Children With Cochlear Implants: The Impact of Language Skills and Hearing

“…The current study did not find any association between HR-QOL, and different background variables previously found to be of importance, such as age at identification or audiological intervention (Korver et al, 2010;Loy et al, 2010;Schorr et al, 2009), spoken language as main communication mode (Percy-Smith et al, 2008;Theunissen et al, 2011;Theunissen et al, 2015), or higher levels of socioeconomic status (Kirman & Sari, 2013;Sahli et al, 2009).…”

“…Good speech perception and spoken language skills will therefore be essential to communicate effectively. Better communication skills and the use of oral communication have been found to be associated with a reduced incidence of mental health problems and reduced peer problems (Percy-Smith et al, 2008;Theunissen et al, 2011;Theunissen et al, 2015). Similarly, in a study by Fellinger, Holzinger, Beitel, Laucht & Goldberg (2009) children who had better spoken language skills had significantly fewer problems with peer relations in mainstream schools, but more peer problems in segregated schools for the deaf.…”

“…Some studies also indicate that use of CIs is associated with higher levels of HR-QOL or lower frequency of mental health problems compared to children using hearing aids, with one possible reason being the better and more extensive habilitation these children often receive (Necula et al, 2013;Theunissen et al, 2015 Heterogeneity in study design is another aspect that may contribute to explaining the variability in previous findings. Some studies have relied on norming data rather than including a control group.…”

Mental health problems among 4–17-year-olds with hearing problems: results from a nationally representative study

“…For other disorders, inclusion of other factors attenuated the findings, suggesting that much of the association between hearing loss and mental health problems can be attributed to child development and sociodemographic factors. These include communication problems, as has been highlighted in the literature previously [5,23], but also other factors such as parent psychological distress, financial strain and parent education level. There is limited research pertaining to why the families of children and young people with hearing problems may be more likely to have financial strain and psychological distress.…”

“…Most studies have shown that the extent of psychosocial difficulties are unrelated to the degree of hearing loss [5,6,22], although others have found that children with hearing aids had more symptoms of psychopathology than those with cochlear implants or their normally hearing peers despite children with cochlear implants having more severe hearing loss [23].…”