How can hearing loss affect a child's speech pattern?

Hearing loss in childhood significantly hinders the development of speech because hearing serves as the primary sensory portal for learning how to produce sounds. Children with hearing impairments often learn to articulate speech sounds in a muffled, distorted, or inaudible manner, a condition known as audiogenic dyslalia.1

Specific impacts on speech patterns include:

• Articulatory Distortions: If a child cannot hear high-frequency sounds, they struggle to produce speech sounds with high-frequency formants, such as hissing sibilants. For example, a sharp "s" may be pronounced as a muted "sh," and light vowels may be transformed into darker counterparts.1
• Voice Quality: The child’s voice is affected by their ability to monitor their own output. Those with conductive hearing loss may speak in a subdued voice because they perceive their own voice as loud through bone conduction. Conversely, those with neural hearing loss may speak in an overloud, screeching voice because they cannot hear themselves well.1
• Developmental Delays: While children with mild or moderate impairments may acquire speech independently but more slowly, profound or total deafness can lead to an absence of oral language development without specialized training.12