OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to observe the consequences of unilateral hearing loss with regard to intellectual functioning and development of children. METHODS: The studies were conducted on the group of 64 children (42 boys and 22 girls) aged 6-16 years with left- or right-sided hearing loss using D. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). RESULTS: Children with right-sided hearing loss had a limited range of concepts, lower capability of learning verbal material and logical reasoning, abstract thinking and classifying. Left-sided hearing loss caused deterioration of intellectual abilities within non-verbal intelligence. Such a children had poorer abilities for analyzing, synthesizing and visual memory, worse spatial imagination and visual coordination. CONCLUSIONS: The examined children with unilateral hearing loss achieved the intelligence quotient on the average level in D. Wechsler Intelligence Scale. The side of hearing loss has a significant influence on the development of individual intellectual functions.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to observe the consequences of unilateral hearing loss with regard to intellectual functioning and development of children. METHODS: The studies were conducted on the group of 64 children (42 boys and 22 girls) aged 6-16 years with left- or right-sided hearing loss using D. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). RESULTS:Children with right-sided hearing loss had a limited range of concepts, lower capability of learning verbal material and logical reasoning, abstract thinking and classifying. Left-sided hearing loss caused deterioration of intellectual abilities within non-verbal intelligence. Such a children had poorer abilities for analyzing, synthesizing and visual memory, worse spatial imagination and visual coordination. CONCLUSIONS: The examined children with unilateral hearing loss achieved the intelligence quotient on the average level in D. Wechsler Intelligence Scale. The side of hearing loss has a significant influence on the development of individual intellectual functions.