5. Listening skills and functional hearing

The working group lead for this section is: Naomi Forster.

Key contributors: Naomi Forster, Conor Mervyn, Anne Bailey, Dominic Caswell, Suzanne Churcher, Nicola Wilson and Matt Frieacre.

This section aims to provide an understanding of listening skills and functional hearing. The key to understanding the way a child or young person (CYP) hears is through functional listening assessments. We need to know not only how the ear processes sound but also what the person perceives with their hearing.

Functional listening assessments give information on how the person functions in the environments they move in. What challenges are they experiencing in their listening environments? Are some situations more challenging than others? When fitting assistive listening devices (ALDs), we need to know what benefit is gained.

There are a range of assessments and tools looking at different aspects of functional listening: questionnaires for children, surveys of those working with the child, observation schedules, and objective tests of speech perception. The assessment must be chosen with the CYP’s age and developmental level in mind and each has benefits and challenges.

These assessments are conducted in the clinical environment to check the benefits of hearing aids or cochlear implants but are a core part of the contribution that a Qualified Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People (QToD) and educational audiologist make in the educational setting, providing information about how the CYP is using their hearing in their everyday setting.

For more information on this section, or if you would like to make a suggestion or contribution, please email: [email protected]