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Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Advance Access originally published online on May 12, 2006
The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 2006 11(4):461-476; doi:10.1093/deafed/enj044
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

They Only See It When the Sun Shines in My Ears: Exploring Perceptions of Adolescent Hearing Aid Users

Bruce Kent

New Zealand Ministry of Education

Sandra Smith

New Zealand Ministry of Education and Massey University

Hard-of-hearing (HOH) young people may encounter multiple challenges to their educational, social, and emotional development. The benefits of wearing hearing aids to enhance communication may be countered by negative stigma associated with hearing aids. This study explored the experience of 16 bilaterally, moderately to severely HOH adolescents in mainstream education to understand their perceptions of using hearing aids. A core category of "normality" emerged from the data, which captures the predominant issue for these young people. The sense of being normal may be situationally determined, but those who are able to perceive their use of hearing aids in a given context as normal most frequently use them. Regardless of the age of diagnosis or length of time since fitting, if use of hearing aids is perceived as not normal then their use is disguised or negated. The perceptions of the young people indicate that psychosocial supports focused on promoting their identity as HOH young people and normalizing the use of hearing aids should be a key feature of interventions.

Correspondence should be sent to Bruce Kent, Ministry of Education (Special Education), PO Box 76 620, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand (e-mail: bruce.kent{at}minedu.govt.nz).

Received August 23, 2005; revised April 5, 2006; accepted April 14, 2006


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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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