Top 5 Misconceptions About Hearing in Schools

These truths may hold the key to low reading scores

If you spend any time in our public schools, you’ll soon realize that a child’s ability to hear is not a priority. A leading issue at birth and throughout childhood suddenly becomes a “low incidence” occurrence once a child enters school, according to Child Find data. Yet, the symptoms of an auditory issue are prevalent.

Disabilities with the largest number of children accounted for (e.g., reading delays, speech/language issues, behaviors) are many times the symptom of an auditory pathway problem. These children, if not correctly identified and classified with the correct disability, will continue to receive services for the symptoms and not the problem.  Thus, being sentenced to a lifetime of special education.

Here are the top 5 misconceptions about hearing in our schools.

1.       Children have full access to spoken language.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most classrooms were built for containment and not producing high quality auditory experiences. In addition to having 20+ children safely in one room, cleaning up must be easy. Although school administrations are concerned with the durability and safety of their classrooms, parents send their children to school to learn. To learn, kids need to have full access to spoken language. Hard surfaces, tall ceilings, windows, and kids are not a good combination for providing an acoustically pleasant experience. Learning is going to be difficult when the instructor’s voice is not heard above the noise.

2.       Children hear the same way.

A false statement at the crux of many learning disorders. Hearing loss is one of the leading birth defects in the world and passing the newborn hearing screening does not mean a child doesn’t have a mild hearing loss or won’t develop one during childhood. There are many reasons why a child can (and will) develop auditory issues, but there is no standardization across the US to screen children effectively and efficiently. Eleven states don’t even require hearing screenings in schools and for the remainder of states that do, they still screen using antiquated methods. A class of 30 students should have at least 4.5 kids with an auditory issue according to the statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There is no way to know how a child is hearing unless they are screened using contemporary methods and children are not being identified.

3.       Schools provide appropriate equipment and personnel to screen hearing.

Audiometric equipment must be calibrated annually to provide accurate test results. It is not uncommon to walk into a school and blow the dust off an old audiometer that hasn’t been calibrated in more than 7-8 years years (if not more). Not only does this mean any screenings obtained using uncalibrated equipment are invalid, but it’s also rare to have anyone with auditory knowledge performing the tests.

4.       Child Find is a good suggestion.

Child Find is the law. School districts are mandated to locate and identify those children in need of special education services. A child with a reading delay, speech/language problem, behaviors, or chronic congestion should have their hearing screened by someone with auditory expertise using appropriate and contemporary hearing screening methods. The auditory system is complex which means without the correct testing measures and appropriate interpretation, children will be misdiagnosed and only treated for symptoms instead of the real issue.

5.       All hearing screenings are the same.

There is no standardization for hearing screenings in schools across the US. Most hearing screenings are performed by nurses, speech pathologists, and/or parents. Schools still screen using pure tones (e.g., “raise your hand to the beep”) which is only screening hearing sensitivity. There are a variety of frequencies used and guidelines from audiology organizations haven’t been updated for 10-15 years. In addition, many screen at a level of 25dB which is considered a hearing loss in a child. A critical look at research suggests hearing screenings should include speech in noise to know how a child can hear functionally. But to date, hearing screening protocols are all over the board and, at best, do the bare minimum.

It is not shocking that reading and math scores continue to plummet. This trend could be seen before Covid and although many would like to blame the shutdown for the dismal scores, it’s hardly the only culprit. Reading is primarily an auditory skill and until we prioritize the importance of the auditory pathway and screen our children appropriately, scores will continue a downhill spiral.