The impact of hearing loss on mathematical and linguistic performance in 11-16 year old school children.

Previously it has been suggested that there is a considerable difference between hearing impaired and hearing children in academic performance whereby hearing impaired children have consistently been found to lag behind (e.g. Conrad, 1977; Powers, 1998). Contemporary reports suggest that hearing impairment is a risk factor rather than a causal factor in academic achievement (Nunes, 2004), and that the impaired linguistic ability observed in hearing impaired children may be central to this academic delay. The aim here is to evaluate the impact of hearing loss on the development of mathematical and linguistic skills in hearing impaired and hearing school children, 11-16 years of age, across a range of National Curriculum topics. Surprisingly, results showed that there were no significant differences between hearing impaired and hearing children on overall mathematics test scores. Implications of results will be discussed within the cognitive framework of mathematical and language development insofar as academic provision is concerned.