According to a study published in May 2010 in the journal Pediatrics, hearing loss in one ear is enough to cause language problems for kids. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri tested 74 pairs of school-age siblings. Half the children had hearing loss in one ear, while their siblings had normal hearing.
The study found that the impaired kids scored lower on both comprehension and speech tests and were more likely to be receiving speech therapy than their siblings; but up to one in 20 kids with such hearing loss often don't receive the help they need, such as a front seat in class, hearing aids or special education.
"Unlike 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,'" the researchers wrote. “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."
The key idea of study, according to its authors, is that we don't want to ignore children with hearing loss in one ear.
Click here to review the study.