Kids with hearing loss want to fit in. They want to interact, learn, and socialize with their friends and peers in a variety of settings and feel included in all of them. Studies show that when kids have trouble perceiving emotion in others, it can compromise their communication skills and overall quality of life.*  The good news is hearing aids can help.

Children experience a variety of sound environments throughout the day. Until now, access to voice emotion for children who wear hearing aids has not been investigated in complex, noisy listening environments. Many children with hearing loss rely on facial expressions to detect emotions, but when that’s not possible, being able to hear every nuance of language is crucial for socialization and development.

A recent Oticon study set out to investigate how children and teens with hearing loss recognize voice emotion without the support of facial expressions in comparison to their hearing peers.

How the study worked:

In the new study, the children with hearing loss were fit with Oticon hearings aids with MoreSound Intelligence™, and tested on voice emotion recognition for:

• Anger
• Happiness
• Sadness
• Fear

Researchers found children who wore the Oticon hearing aids were able to accurately recognize the emotional nuances of spoken language without support of facial expressions.

And, they had similar performance in their voice emotion recognition as their age-matched peers with normal hearing – a 94% to 98% recognition level, respectively.

What this means for your child with hearing loss:

This means that Oticon pediatric hearing aids hold the potential for kids and teens to get the access they need to important aspects of their development, helping them hear the nuances that foster empathy and feeling socially connected.

Oticon More™ and Oticon Play PX features MoreSound Intelligence, which provides a more precise and natural representation of all sounds, making it easier for your child to enjoy, follow and engage in social and educational settings.

To learn more about hearing aids for children, contact a hearing care provider in your area today!

*Shaffer et al, 2009; See Picou et al., 2018 for review