Amplification and Auditory/Verbal Training for the Limited Hearing Infant, 0 to 30 Months

Abstract

The concept of amplification and auditory training has a long history. As far back as the 1st century, Archigenes advocated the use of a hearing trumpet to intensify sound for persons with defective hearing. Goldstein (1939) described an "Acoustic Method," but since this predated the development of the wearable electronic aid, audition continued to be used as a supplement with vision as the primary channel of communication (Oyer and O'Neill, 1961). Huizing, in 1959, noted that less than 5 percent of children in the schools for the deaf in the Netherlands appeared to be totally deaf, but a half century of attempts to use the residual hearing of the children in these schools had not resulted in a substantial change in the oral method. During the last thirty years, the concept has changed to comprehensive aural habilitation beginning at the earliest possible age, and it has been advocated in many countries (Wedenberg, 1961; Whetnall, 1964; Pollack, 1970; Reichenstein, 1980). Programs for infants now include four major components: