The Well-Being and Care of Deaf Children

Dear Colleagues,

Hearing loss is becoming an increasingly common cause for concern. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 466 million people experience hearing problems, amounting to almost 6.1% of the world's population. Of this percentage, 7% of the hearing-impaired group are children.

Hearing loss has come to be classified based on various criteria, with each of them describing the causes of hearing loss, as well as their characteristics in terms of features relevant to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Statistics show that two to three children per 1,000 are born with a hearing disorder. For this reason, is important to intervene appropriately to offset its impact in a child’s later life.

If hearing loss is not recognized early enough, it can interfere with a child's intellectual, social, and emotional development. Hearing loss can cause detrimental effects related to speech and language, with significant developmental, educational, and cognitive outcomes in children. Definitively, a child who cannot hear human speech will not learn to speak, and if he begins learning at a later stage, speech defects may remain with him forever. Given this background, hearing loss in a child is a difficult diagnostic and treatment problem. However, it should be noted that many causes of childhood hearing loss can be successfully treated. For these reasons, correct and early diagnosis is extremely important. The proper treatment of hearing loss in a child who is completely deaf will allow for his optimal development, and this includes the avoidance of outcomes such as social exclusion.

Therefore, this Special Issue will focus on exploring the issues faced by children with hearing loss/deafness, as well as those faced by their families. An important aspect of this Special Issue will be the presentation of standards for the management and care of a child with hearing impairment, given that current capabilities and developments in technology allow for the use of various rehabilitation methods and treatments for this group of patients. Both reviews and original research (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed) will be considered for publication.

Dr. Katarzyna Beata Cywka
Dr. Artur Lorens
Prof. Dr. Piotr Henryk Skarżyński
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• hearing loss
• hearing aid
• audiology
• children
• deafness
• rehabilitation
• cochlear implants
• hearing preservation
• hearing screening
• child development
• hearing implants