what can your child hear? 49
Different speech sounds also have higher or lower pitches. For example,
the sounds ‘o-o-o’ and ‘m-m-m’ have a low pitch. The sound ‘e-e-e’ has a
medium pitch. The sounds ‘s-s-s’ and ‘f-f-f’ have a high pitch.
There are many kinds of hearing loss
A child who has problems hearing usually has difficulty with both
loudness and pitch. For example:
This baby does not hear
well. She cannot hear
high-pitch sounds.
This boy cannot hear
well. He cannot hear
low-pitch sounds.
She cannot hear her father
playing the flute. But she can
hear low-pitch, loud sounds like
drums.
He cannot hear his father playing the
drum, though he may feel its vibration
(shaking). But he can hear high-pitch
sounds like a baby crying.
This girl cannot hear well. She cannot hear
middle-pitch sounds.
She can hear high-pitch sounds, so she can
hear the baby crying. She can also hear low-
pitch sounds like her father’s voice. But she
cannot hear her mother’s voice.
This boy is completely deaf. He
cannot hear any sounds.
He cannot hear his mother,
the chickens in the yard, or
the truck on the road, no
matter how loud they are.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)