The problem of counseling is dealt with mainly in the context of severe hearing impairment, since moderate forms are often due to illness or other nongenetic factors and do not constitute a grave handicap. (DLS)

The performance of 17 prelingually severely and profoundly hearing-impaired subjects on the Speech Pattern Contrast Test (Version II) was evaluated. Although performance on most of the contrast subtests was significantly correlated with phoneme and word recognition, intercorrelations among most subtests were also significant. (Author/DB)

Analysis of performance of prelingually hearing-impaired 10- to 18-year-olds (N=50) on a vocabulary comprehension test and reading comprehension measures supported the contention that lexical knowledge is an effective predictor of reading comprehension performance for hearing-impaired subjects. (Author/CB)

This article discusses inheritance patterns in hearing loss, epidemiology, clues to genetic causes, locating genes that cause hereditary disorders, genes related to hearing loss disorders in individuals with Usher syndrome, Waardenburg syndrome, Treacher-Collins syndrome, Branchio-oto-renal and Pendred syndromes, and the significance of finding…

Usher's syndrome, a genetic condition causing congenital profound hearing loss and a progressive blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa, affects an estimated three to six percent of children in educational and rehabilitative programs for the hearing impaired. (Author)

Cytomegalovirus is the most common cause of congenital virally induced hearing loss. Maternal infection is most often asymptomatic as is the infection in the newborn. Hearing loss occurs in both clinically apparent infection and in the asymptomatic infection. Current methods of detection, treatment, and prevention and research efforts are…

The speech intelligibility of 18 children with prelingual deafness was examined after using cochlear implants for an average of 3 years. The average speech intelligibility score of the nine children using oral communication was significantly higher than that of nine children using total communication. (DB)

Dialogues between hearing mothers and their prelinguistic hearing-impaired (n=3) or normally hearing (n=7) infants were analyzed. Mothers of hearing-impaired infants contributed a greater percent of dyadic topic initiations than did other mothers. No group differences were found in responsiveness of mothers or infants. (Author/DB)

The incidence of congenital hearing loss in the United Kingdom is noted, and the use of a universal behavioral hearing screen at the age of seven or eight months, implemented by Health Visitors, is described. Procedures involved in identification, diagnosis, and management are discussed. (JDD)

A program was implemented in Oregon to screen infants at risk for hearing impairment, based on a birth certificate question concerning family history of hearing loss and subsequent parent notification of the need to have the infant's hearing tested. Preliminary results concerning efficacy of the program are reported. (JDD)

This study evaluated use of a reading comprehension intervention to teach inferential reading to 30 underachieving prelingually deaf readers (ages 9 to 18) using pictorial material and printed text. The two experimental groups made significant reading gains during the 30-week period of intervention as compared to control groups. (Contains…

This paper describes the approach to speech training used with a young congenitally deaf adult. Two tactile aids (Tactaid VII and Tactaid 2000+) were used to provide feedback on speech production. Following a one-year training period, listeners with normal hearing were able to understand about 90 percent of the subject's words in an…

This paper emphasizes the importance of testing infants for hearing loss in the newborn nursery and describes the screening program of the Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Clinic as a model. In the program, high risk neonates are identified through screening programs by hospital personnel or by community health nurses. (JDD)

The speech production of a prelingually deafened adult male was examined at 4 intervals: 1 week and again at 9 months postimplant with a single-channel cochlear implant, 14 months later with a nonfunctioning device, and 1 year following implantation with a multichannel device. Consonant accuracy and vowel accuracy changed little across conditions.…