La riabilitazione uditiva nelle SSD

Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) is defined as normal hearing in one ear and impaired hearing in the contralateral ear. Single-sided deafness (SSD) refers to profound sensorineural HL or non-functional hearing in one ear, while the other ear maintains normal hearing. The prevalence of congenital UHL is about 0.3-1 per 1,000 newborns, with a remarkable increase (1.2-4.6 per 100) in newborns admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. The prevalence of SSD is approximately 0.1-0.4 per 1,000 newborns. It increases with age. In the past, it was traditionally believed that unilateral hearing was the minimum requirement for acceptable speech development and that consequently the use of hearing aids was not necessary. Since the 1980s, significant difficulties have been reported for children with UHL in the areas of localization, listening in noise, language, and academic functions.