Unilateral deafness affects just one ear and asymmetric deafness affects both, although with a significant difference between one ear and the other. Most of these types of deafness usually develop before the age of 10, and 50% of all cases are due to genetic causes, occurring in one third of all hearing loss children.
Although the impact of this deafness on child development and learning has been minimised, it has effects on speech and language development as well as global development if left untreated, affecting the child’s quality of life and that of his or her family.
The Document of Recommendations, produced by the group of experts of the Commission for the Early Detection of Hearing Loss (CODEPEH), includes a series of recommendations aimed at the clinical diagnosis and therapeutic improvement of unilateral and asymmetric hearing loss to avoid and/or mitigate the undesirable consequences of this type of deafness that affects one in every thousand newborns, the prevalence of which increases with age due to late or acquired cases.
Additional informative material to this document: Brochure “Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Unilateral or Asymmetrical Hearing Loss in Children“
For your bibliography: CODEPEH (Núñez et. al.) (2017): “Diagnosis and treatment of unilateral or asymmetric hearing loss in children: CODEPEH 2017 recommendations”. FIAPAS Journal, October-December 2017, no. 163, Special (2nd ed.). Madrid, FIAPAS 2018.
©FIAPAS 2017 (2nd edition 2018)