1. PURPOSE OF AUDITORY LEARNING: to teach the child to use his technologically assisted hearing for both active and passive listening…or as Doreen Pollack states (1981), "to integrate hearing into the child's personality."

2. LISTENING IS A LEARNED BEHAVIOR LIKE OTHER SENSORY AND MOTOR BEHAVIORS: it does not occur simply by having the child wear sophisticated hearing technology.

3. LISTENING IS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS : it needs to be developed during all the listener's waking hours.

4. LISTENING INVOLVES ALL SOUNDS: including talking, laughing, sneezing, coughing and sounds in the environment such as the telephone, rain and wind, the microwave, music, crunchy autumn leaves, etc.

5. AUDITORY EXPERIENCE MUST BE INTEGRATED INTO OTHER SENSORY AND MOTOR EXPERIENCES: the goal is for hearing to be done without thinking. For example, tapping to the beat of music, humming along with the radio, clapping out the rhythm of a poem.

6. AUDITORY LEARNING ACTIVITIES MUST BE INDIVIDUALIZED FOR EACH CHILD: this keeps them fun, interesting and motivating.

7. SIMILAR AUDIOGRAMS DO NOT IMPLY SIMILAR USE OF HEARING OR BENEFITS FROM TECHNOLOGY: some individuals learn to hear and speak very will while others have more difficulty. Many factors influence a person's interaction with technology and training.

8. CHILDREN MUST BE SHOWN THE SOURCE OF SOUNDS IN ORDER TO LEARN THEIR MEANING: one cannot tell the direction of sound with most hearing aids and/or a cochlear implant. Therefore, individuals with hearing technology need to be shown what makes each sound so these can be memorized.

 Pollack, D. Educational Audiology for the Limited Hearing Infant. 2nd Ed., Chas. C. Thomas, Publ., Springfield IL, 1981