Ages of Diagnosis, Amplification, and Early Intervention of Infants and Young Children with Hearing Loss: Findings from Parent Interviews

Abstract

A survey was conducted to determine the status of early identification of children with hearing loss in Illinois. Over a 3-year period, parents of 77 children with severe to profound hearing loss were interviewed while attending an educational program at a state residential school for the Deaf. Results indicated that these children had lower ages of identification than those reported in national studies (Arehart, Yoshinaga-Itano, Thomson, Gabbard, and Stredler Brown, 1998; Harrison & Roush, 1996) and in an earlier study in Illinois (Kittrell & Arjmand, 1997). Delays between suspicion and the initiation of diagnosis and amplification were reported, and were most often attributed to physicians' failure to investigate the possibility of hearing loss. Delays in the onset of early intervention services were noted for half of the children. Although the study reports progress across all areas, the ages of identification, amplification, and early intervention remain higher than recent research (Harrison & Roush, 1996; Kittrell & Arjmand, 1997; Marschark, 1998) indicates is justifiable.

Reabilitação auditiva na criança: adesão ao tratamento e ao uso do aparelho de amplificação sonora individual

“…The intervention soon after diagnosis of hearing impaired children is of utmost importance for development of auditory skills, speech and language to occur. Therefore, the use of hearing aids and/or other devices such as cochlear implants is essential (11,(18)(19)(20)(21) . The fact that the answers are not yet consistent at early stages of hearing aid fitting -depending on the degree of hearing loss -decreases the motivation of parents to insist on the use of the devices.…”

The ages of suspicion, identification, amplification and intervention in children with hearing loss

“…In Mauritius, the median age of suspicion of hearing loss, diagnosis of hearing loss, and age of fitting of hearing aids were found to be 12, 24 and 30 months, respectively [13]. A survey was conducted to determine the status of early identification of children with hearing loss in Illinois, the results of this survey revealed that the average age of diagnosis was 14.6 months, and the average age at which children were fitted with amplification was 19.1 months [4]. Screening of hearing during the newborn period is an important tool for early identification of hearing loss.…”

“…Early diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss is also critical to the educational and social development of the children with hearing impairment. The earlier identification of hearing loss increases the opportunity for developing normal language skills [4,5]. In 2000, the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing issued a new position statement, which included a recommendation that all infants' hearing should be screened before one month of age, using objective, physiologic measures to identify those with congenital or neonatal onset hearing loss.…”

“…Infants with confirmed hearing loss should receive intervention before 6 months of age [6]. In the literature, there are many reports regarding ages of suspicion, identification, amplification and intervention in hearing impaired infants and children, from different countries and investigator groups [4,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Researches supporting the benefits of early identification and intervention have been reported by several investigators.…”

Hörstörung im Kindesalter

“…von 13,2 Mo na ten bei Schall emp fin dungs stö rungen ent spricht und da mit deut lich hö her ist als in der Li te ra tur an ge ge ben. So er hob eine In ter view-Stu die mit El tern im USStaat Il li nois (an 77 Kin dern ab hoch gradi gem Hör ver lust im Al ter von 8-71 Mona ten) in 53 der Fäl le eine durch schnittli che Ver zö ge rung zwi schen Ver dacht und Di ag no se von ≤2 Mo na ten [10].…”