The effects of hearing on the development and expression of the self

Proponents of Meadian self theory maintain that language is the critical mechanism that allows the self to emerge processually through symbolic interaction. Because of the role of hearing in language development, one who is deaf and cannot hear the spoken language is not able to stimulate himself and others with the sounds that make meaningful communication possible. The major aim of the present study was to determine the impact of the inability to hear on the development and the expression of the self concept in twenty hearing and twenty non hearing adolescents in Virginia.

An exploratory study of the self through the use of the "Who Am I" test, an open ended test entitled "The Person You Are" and an adaptation of Gordon's self configuration scheme to the "Who Am I" test served as measures to the problem at hand.

The data revealed that the inability to hear and so to verbally stimulate oneself results in the development and the expression of a less than fully reflexive self consciousness. The "impoverished" self displayed by the deaf adolescents seemed to stem from their inability to verbally stimulate their "selves" and "others" and to respond to themselves and others as social objects.