Abstract

In addition to limiting the perception of sound stimuli, hearing impairment can affect human functioning in various spheres of life: including physical, mental, and social ones; at the same time, it might affect the development of communication and, above all, language skills as well. The results of scientific research briefly presented in the introductory part of this article report on the varying severity of these difficulties. Then, on the basis of the secondary literature, the principles of creating spoken and written texts are discussed. In the following part, the characteristic features of narrative forms of expression are listed, especially description, which is significantly different from the story. Next, the results of our own research on the ability to structure description based on the oral and written statements of 12 students with varying degrees of hearing loss are presented. Based on the collected material, it was noticed that the composition of written texts produced by the people with hearing disabilities are more thoughtful, more complex and more complete, although they also contain stylistic and linguistic errors. A significant number of people also used such sentences which clearly finish and/or summarise their descriptions. Spoken texts are short and concise, which is most noticeable in listing the distinctive elements or parts of a provided illustration, or individual features of one’s appearance. There are also fewer texts in which the emotions of travellers are noticed and described. Single sentences and extended single sentences prevail. Moreover, features typical of spoken language are present as well. Finally, there are some difficulties in building a compositionally and logically correct statement.