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Service Delivery to Children With Mild Hearing Loss: Current Practice Patterns and Parent Perceptions
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Service Delivery to Children With Mild Hearing Loss: Current Practice Patterns and Parent Perceptions

Elizabeth A Walker, Meredith Spratford, Sophie E Ambrose, Lenore Holte and Jacob Oleson
American journal of audiology, Vol.26(1), pp.38-52
03/01/2017
DOI: 10.1044/2016_AJA-16-0063
PMCID: PMC5597083
PMID: 28257528
url
https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_AJA-16-0063View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

This study investigates clinical practice patterns and parent perception of intervention for children with mild hearing loss (HL). Ages at and delays between service delivery steps (first diagnostic evaluation, confirmation of HL, hearing aid [HA] fitting, entry into early intervention) were investigated for 113 children with mild HL. Comparisons were made to children with moderate-to-severe HL. Parents of children with mild HL reported reasons for delays and their perceptions of intervention and amplification for their children. Seventy-four percent of children with mild HL were identified through the newborn hearing screen; 26% were identified later due to passing or not receiving a newborn hearing screen. Ninety-four percent of children with mild HL were fit with HAs, albeit at significantly later ages than children with moderate-to-severe HL. Most parents indicated that their children benefited from HA use, but some parents expressed ambivalence toward the amount of benefit. Audiologists appear to be moving toward regularly providing amplification for children with mild HL. However, delays in HA fittings indicate that further educating professionals and parents about the benefits of early amplification and intervention is warranted to encourage timely fitting and consistent use of HAs.
 Severity of Illness Index Health Services Hearing Loss - physiopathology Time-to-Treatment Attitude to Health Prosthesis Fitting Humans Parents Child, Preschool Correction of Hearing Impairment Infant Male Practice Patterns, Physicians Neonatal Screening Hearing Aids Time Factors Hearing Loss - rehabilitation Audiometry, Pure-Tone Female Child Infant, Newborn

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