The learning difficulties of hearing impaired children lie primarily in their difficulties in speech and language, which may in turn vary according to their degrees of hearing loss and how early the intervention takes place.

Some of these children may have poor articulation of speech, for example, the omission of high frequency sounds. They may be weak in breath and pitch control and their voices tend to be monotonous. All these make it difficult for them to communicate with others. In language learning, they may have difficulties in understanding abstract vocabulary, complicated sentence structures and unfamiliar concepts. They may also have difficulties in learning to read and write. Studies have shown that early identification of hearing loss followed by the correct intervention (use of the correct amplification device and speech therapy) can lead to avoiding most or all of the above mentioned problems.

Language plays an important part in the higher intellectual development, especially in problem solving. Deafness may cause a language deficit, which in turn affects progress in learning. Many hearing impaired children tend to be rather weak in abstract thinking and analytical power. This can be a hindrance to their acquisition of knowledge.