Unilateral hearing loss

It is estimated that up to 6.3%¹, or 4.4 million children², in the United States are living with UHL.

Hearing well in a multitude of situations can be particularly challenging for kids with UHL. Having solutions which allow them to fully participate and keep up with their active lives is important to their overal sense of well-being in and outside the classroom.

Untreated UHL may result in language delays and academic difficulties, but may also cause a child to suffer from fatigue, feel withdrawn or leave them susceptible to a greater risk of social and emotional difficulties.

Research indicates:

• Children with UHL are 10 times more likely to need to repeat a year of school than children with normal hearing.³
• They are 5 times more likely to need support services.⁴

These effects are signficant for the 1 in 1000 newborns identified with UHL⁵ and the 3 in 100 children who have UHL once they are school-aged.⁶

As there are many considerations in choosing the right hearing technology or multiple technologies for any child with UHL as they grow, Phonak offers a comprehensive and ease-to-use portfolio of hearing solutions.

• When the impaired ear is aidable, the Phonak Sky™ M family is perfect for younger children and teens or alternatively teens could consider Phonak Audéo™ P.
• For a child with single sided deafness or unusable hearing on one ear, the Phonak CROS B behind-the-ear models work seamlessly with the Sky B family*. There is no manual adjustment needed for use – even with Roger.
• For hearing in noise and over distance, the discreet Roger Focus II receiver, worn on the normal ear and paired with a Roger microphone, provides direct access to to the teachers voice in a typical classroom.

*not recommended with the rechargeable Sky B-PR

In an effort to advance the treatment approach for UHL, Phonak brought together an international panel of experts to discuss best practices. They made the following recommendations for children with UHL:

• Intervention by the age of 6 months is imperative as UHL can negatively impact a child’s development, including their speech understanding, cognition and speech/language development.
• A variety of hearing technologies should be considered as part of early intervention for every child with UHL.
• Audiologists have an important role in providing support, information, and resources to families throughout their child’s hearing journey.

Having played with professional musicians since the age of 12, Cole was a thriving teenage musician with his own band, the Cole Morson Band. But in 2018, his whole life changed when an ear infection caused deafness in his right ear. After months of testing showed his hearing loss would not improve, Cole decided to find a solution so he could return to his love of music.

Bonus video https://youtu.be/pBHCK0a3w1Y