Prematurity and Deafness: The Magnitude and Nature of the Problem among Deaf Children

Abstract

The relationship of premature birth to deafness is investigated, with particular emphasis on the role of prematurity as a factor in multiple handicaps among deaf children. One thousand sixty-eight cases are involved in the research. Those born prematurely are carefully studied in terms of: (a) multiple handicaps, (b) educational achievement, (c) psychological adjustment, (d) intelligence, (e) audiometric responses, and (f) psychodiagnostic evidence of brain damage. Results of these behavioral and physical variables are quantified and compared to normative data and to data on other groups of deaf children having different etiologies of hearing loss. Significant differences are found among the premature deaf youths. The neurophysiological origins of these are discussed, and implications for the future are given.