Noisy classrooms hit deaf pupils

Nearly 10,000 partially deaf children are falling behind in mainstream schools because of lack of awareness, late diagnosis and noisy classrooms, new research has warned.

More than half of children with a mild or moderate hearing loss fail to achieve five good GCSEs, compared with just 30 per cent of other children, according to new analysis by the National Deaf Children’s Society.

Poor acoustics, lack of staff awareness and late diagnosis are contributing to a significant impact on the 20,000 UK children who have mild and moderate deafness, the study, published to mark Deaf Awareness Week, found. The report was based on interviews with 614 parents of children with mild to moderate deafness and 166 teachers of the deaf.

“Shame, to their detriment, some children’s hearing issues are getting overlooked”