A Comparative Study of the Static, Dynmaic, and Rotary Balance of Hearing and Hearing Impaired Children

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether there was a significant difference in the static , dynamic, and rotary balance of hearing and hearing impaired children. The subjects used were forty children from the Emerson Elementary School in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The forty children were composed of twenty hearing impaired children and twenty normal hearing children matched according to age and sex. After selecting the subjects, their level of balance ability was evaluated by testing each child individually in three balance areas to include: static balance-right, static balance-left ; dynamic balance; and rotary balance right, rotary balance-left. The measuring devices used were the Linco1n-Oseretsky Motor Development Scale, balanciometer, and a rotary chair. To measure the differences, the mean for each of the five balance tests was computed. Through a correlated t-test, comparisons between groups on all test items were determined at .05 level of significance. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was applied to measure the difference with each group of the same balance test with age included. Results of the correlated t-test showed that there was a significant difference in the static, dynamic, and rotary balance test. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation showed significant correlation between dynamic balance and age, static balance-right and static balance-left, static balance-right and age, rotary balance-right and rotary balance-left.