幼児の聴力と保育空間の音環境に関する研究

聴力検査は幼児の健康診断の項目として位置づけられており、附属幼稚園においては通常の検査項目である。今回、通常実施している健康診断での聴力検査に加え、乳幼児期の聴覚スクリーニングに適するとされているOAEを使用して聴力の測定を実施した。その結果、オージオメータを使用した聴力検査では得られなかったデー夕、すなわち幼児の聴力レベルは個人差が大きいこと、周波数帯域毎の聴力レベル差及び個人内での左右耳のレベル差があること、聴力の日内変動や体調による変動がある可能性が明らかになった。保育活動を行っている保育空間の音環境に日々注意をはらい、併せて幼児の聴こえの状況を確認することは、よりよい保育環境を用意する上で意義のあることといえよう。この研究で、幼児間での音声コミュニケーションの状況や、保育活動での教員の発話音声のあり方など、幼児にとって耳から入る情報を検討する視点が必要なことが示された。An audiometric test is a part of the physical exam for young children, and it is a standard test item for the affiliated kindergarten. In addition to the audiometric test in the usual physical exam, an audiometric test using Otoacoustic emissions (OAE), which is considered to be suitable for infant hearing screening, was conducted for this exam.As a result, the data, which could not be obtained by audiometric testing, indicated: the hearing level of young children largely varies between individuals; hearing level differences exist between frequency bands; hearing level differences between left and right ears exist within the same child; there is a possibility of circadian variation of hearing and effects of physical conditions on hearing. Furthermore, the merits of the OAE test included that the results are not affected by the individual differences in young children, such as the ability to understand the test method, or mental tension. However, it was found that its implementation requires that: 1) a quiet environment for testing should be prepared to provide a sense of security for the children, 2) the test should be done quickly to prevent effects of children's movement on the test results, and 3) nursing teachers should appropriately determine the shape of the external ear, which is unique to each child, and acquire proficiency in affixing probes.Paying attention to the auditory environment of the nursery room, where nursery activities take place, and checking children's hearing conditions are beneficial for creating a better nursing environment. From this study, the necessity of a viewpoint for discussing information that children obtain via their audiometric threshold was shown, such as the condition of voice communication between children, and the preferred spoken voice of teachers for nursing activities.