Background:

A delay in a child's capacity to develop language is one of the impacts of hearing loss. Children use amplification devices so they can develop spoken language skills comparable or equivalent to those of their peers without hearing loss. The aim of the study was to detect the effect of using different amplification devices on the development of the language in children.

Methods:

The study included three groups of 5-8 years old children, who used different hearing devices and had bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. Each group consisted of ten children; one using binaural hearing aids, the second had a unilateral cochlear implant, and the third group received a bimodal fitting. They were submitted to the following: history taking, intelligence and mental status examination, auditory performance assessment, and Language assessment.

Results:

Bimodal and cochlear implant users have a significantly better aided response, speech understanding, and language performance than hearing aid users. There is a negative, moderate correlation between the aided hearing thresholds and treatment-related factors. Conversely, there is a positive, moderate correlation between the word recognition score, revised categories of auditory perception scale, language performance and the treatment-related factors.

Conclusion:

The aided responses and language development were better among studied cases with cochlear implants and cases with bimodal hearing than cases with hearing aids. Consequently, it is crucial to assess auditory performance and language skills in each child with severe to profound hearing loss individually in terms of hearing aid benefit and the need for cochlear implantation.