Pre-lingual hearing loss occurs before which milestone?

• A. During adolescence
• B. In late adulthood
• C. Before speech develops
• D. After the person learns to speak

Answer: (C)

Pre-lingual refers to hearing loss that occurs before the person has learned to speak. Since speech and language are developing in early childhood, a loss that happens before that development is pre-lingual. This timing can significantly affect language acquisition and communication, making early intervention crucial. The other scenarios describe hearing loss after speech has already begun or learned, which is post-lingual (such as during adolescence or adulthood), so they don’t fit the milestone of speech development.