However, for children who do not benefit from a hearing aid, developing functional communication skills, enhances overall communication abilities. Children can also develop speech reading skills, use of mouth movements, appropriate use of vocalization, conversational strategies, facial expression and body language, to facilitate communication. Determining if and how much a child benefits from a hearing aid involves ongoing formal evaluation of hearing aid benefit, as well as observation of the child using a hearing aid in their everyday environment. There are varying degrees of possible benefit from a hearing aid, ranging from awareness of sound in the environment and voice monitoring, to a sophisticated understanding of spoken language. To what degree a child will benefit from a hearing aid is not always clear cut.
Some children automatically demonstrate their benefit from a hearing aid.
For these children, making a decision regarding continued use of a hearing aid may be easy. Other children may require intensive instruction before their benefit or lack of benefit from a hearing aid becomes apparent. Some children, demonstrate limited benefit from a hearing aid on formal testing or in the environment yet they may still accept, use, or request their hearing aid on a consistent basis. This behavior may indicate that the child is obtaining benefit from the aid that can not be measured formally or observed by others. Children should have an opportunity to experience the use of a hearing aid to determine possible benefit.