Candidacy for Amplification in Children With Hearing Loss: A Review of Guidelines and Recommendations
American Journal of Audiology
Fitzpatrick, E. M., Cologrosso, E., et al. (2019).
American Journal of Audiology, 28(4), 1025-1045.
This systematic review investigates the criteria and candidacy for amplification in children with hearing loss.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
Inception through May 2017
Guidelines; protocols; other types of summary documents or primary studies
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For children with unilateral hearing loss (HL) (e.g., greater than 20 dB HL), 26 documents recommended that they may be candidates for, or may benefit from, amplification on a case-by-case basis.
Across the reviewed recommendation documents, amplification candidacy criteria for children with hearing loss (HL) included a variety of HL thresholds and gave limited guidance on auditory functioning considerations.<ul> <li>For children with any degree or type of HL, 17 documents suggested differing HL recommendations from 20dB HL in a speech frequency range to greater than or equal to 40 dB HL. Some documents recommended averaging three or four HL thresholds in speech frequencies, while others recommended averaging three or four HL thresholds across any frequency. "10 of these 17 sources specified that, with hearing loss of 25 dB HL or more, children met criteria for amplification" (p. 1034).</li> <li>For children with mild bilateral HL (i.e., 15 to 30 dB HL), ten documents recommended that they may be candidates for, or may benefit from, amplification on a case-by-case basis.</li></ul>
For children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD), amplification candidacy recommendations varied greatly across documents. Several recommendations highlighted the importance of behavioral audiometry to determine candidacy. While most documents made recommendations to provide amplification for children with thresholds outside normal hearing limits, some also suggested that children with ANSD and thresholds within normal hearing limits may be considered for amplification.
