In a new study, hearing loss in a single ear of a child hurts his ability to comprehend and use language. In one ear, the hearing loss can stem form congenial abnormalities in the ear, head trauma or infections such as meningitis. It may be noted that the researchers studied 74 six to 12 year old children with sharing loss in one year and each was matched with a sibling with normal hearing so that the researchers could minimize the possible effects of environmental and genetic factors on the children’s language skills.

The researchers write “Unlike for children with (hearing loss in both ears), who are routinely fitted with hearing aids and receive accommodations for disability, children with (hearing loss in one ear) may not be considered to have a 'significant hearing loss. Our results suggest that children with (hearing loss in one ear) should be eligible for the same accommodations as children with (hearing loss in both ears).” They note “Parents often have to lobby hard to get schools to adopt such systems. Apart from hearing aids, several opportunities exist to help these kids, including an FM system that can be used to amplify a teacher's voice”.

While Study leader Judith EC Lieu, ENT specialist of the Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis said “For many years, pediatricians and educators thought that as long as children have one normal hearing ear, their speech and language would develop normally”. Lieu says, “But then a few studies began suggesting these children might have problems in school. Now our study has shown that on average, children with hearing loss in one ear have poorer oral language scores than children with hearing in both ears”.

One sided hearing loss in children often aren’t fitted with hearing aids and often don’t receive accommodations for disability.