Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives of Siblings of Children With Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Purpose The sibling relationship teaches children to navigate social interactions with their peers. However, the presence of an exceptionality, such as hearing loss, in one child can affect the dynamic of this relationship. This article examines quantitative and qualitative effects of having a brother or sister with a cochlear implant (CI) on siblings with typical hearing (TH) to determine how children with TH perceive their sibling with a CI and how having a CI user in the family affects the sibling's activities, emotions, and parental attention. Method Participants include 36 siblings with TH ( M age = 11.6 years) of CI users ( M age = 11.9 years) who completed quantitative measures of their perspectives of their brother/sister with CIs and the effect of hearing loss on themselves. Siblings with TH also could express their opinions via open-ended prompts. Results Overall, siblings with TH express positive perspectives of their brother/sister with CIs and report having a CI user in the family does not affect them much, particularly if the CI user has adequate communication skills. Responses to both quantitative and qualitative items converge on the close relationship between siblings but diverge relative to differential attention from parents (i.e., open-ended responses suggest parents spend more time with the CI user than the sibling with TH). Additionally, siblings acknowledge the presence of social communication deficits of the CI user in real-world situations. Conclusion This nuanced look at relationships among the parent, CI user, and sibling with TH highlights the importance of understanding the family system when working with children with hearing loss.

Vocal Turn-Taking in Families With Children With and Without Hearing Loss

“…The present study demonstrated no effect of childhood HL on the quantity of vocal turn-taking between the target and the other child in families with and without siblings. These results suggest that both female and male caregivers may exhibit greater sensitivity to childhood hearing loss since they possibly focus more attention on DHH children compared with siblings (Atkins 1987; Gregory et al 1995; Antonopoulou et al 2012; Warner-Czyz et al 2021). However, our results also suggest a positive effect of the child’s assistive device (HA or CI) on sibling or peer interaction.…”

“…Previous research presents conflicting evidence on the effect of child disability on the sibling (Schwirian 1976; Israelite 1985; Atkins 1987; Raghuraman 2008) or peer (for review see Antia et al 2003) relationship. Although such studies are limited, the qualitative research suggests a range of results demonstrating negative, positive, or no effect of childhood HL on sibling relationship, probably reflecting the variability of underlying child, parent, and family dynamics factors that might affect study outcomes (Israelite 1985; Atkins 1987; Bat-Chava & Martin 2002; McHale et al 2012; Umat et al 2019; Warner-Czyz et al 2021). Despite these conflicting results, studies consistently demonstrate an improvement of DHH child communication and socialization skills during sibling or peers interaction after receiving an assistice device (Bat-Chava & Deignan 2001; Bat-Chava & Martin 2002; Bat-Chava et al 2005; Umat et al 2019).…”

Scoping review: quality of life of siblings of children who are deaf and hard of hearing, have a vision or motor impairment

“…Next to factors within the individual, external factors impact the QoL of siblings, such as good communication within the family and parental availability ( 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 54 ). This variety of factors affecting the QoL of siblings is also found in previous reviews with other groups of siblings ( 5 , 33 , 60 , 61 ).…”

“…In the current scoping review, we found that many studies suggested that parenting-related variables may impact the QoL of siblings. For instance, parental availability and good communication between the family members were often suggested ( 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 54 ). However, such variables have hardly been studied empirically.…”

Long-Term Device Satisfaction and Safety after Cochlear Implantation in Children

“…It is well accepted that in the pediatric population, early and consistent stimulation of the cochlea is critical for the optimal development of speech and language [ 3 , 4 ]. Hearing loss (HL), especially in young children, poses a barrier to education and social integration, as it affects language acquisition, all of which impact total score literacy and the child’s self-esteem and social skills [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Untreated hearing loss is often associated with academic underachievement, which can lead to reduced employment opportunities later in life [ 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”