Societal and Parental Attitude towards Pediatric Hearing Loss in Rural India: A Preliminary Study

Introduction: - Although age of identification and intervention has been documented in many studies, cause of delay between identification of hearing loss and hearing aid fitting/intervention has not been thoroughly investigated. Important parent consideration affects the time interval from diagnosis to intervention as some parents choose to delay the process of intervention and some even avoid follow up. Need of the study: Attitude of the society and family members towards children wearing hearing aids can affect the outcome of rehabilitation of a hearing impaired child. As a child spends most of his time with parents, the perspective of a hearing impaired child’s parent towards hearing loss, its causes and hearing aid use can decide the outcome of rehabilitation drastically. Thus, there is a need to study the societal and family reaction towards hearing-impaired child using hearing aids, as well as the parent’s perception and reaction towards hearing loss and its causes and hearing aid use. Objective: The objective of the study is to identify: The social reactions to hearing loss in children and hearing aids. The parents perception about hearing loss and its causes and hearing aid fitting. The child’s attitude towards hearing aid use. Methodology: A total of forty participants were interviewed using a self developed questionnaire. Two children (5%) had been fitted with moderate class hearing aid bilaterally. Four participants (10%) reported to have first shown their child at hearing screening camps. Participants were asked if they knew about hearing loss and hearing aid before their child was diagnosed as deaf. Thirty two participants (80%) reported negatively with only eight participants (20%) reported to have awareness regarding hearing loss and hearing aid. Participants were asked about the extra time they spend with the hearing impaired child, which they wouldn’t have if the child had normal hearing. Fourteen participants (35%) reported that they spend more than five hours behind their hearing impaired child, in comparison to normally hearing child. Participants were also asked about the time period, which their child took to accept the hearing aid. Twenty two participants (55%) reported that their child took three to six months to accept the aid. Ten participants (25%) reported that their child had taken more than one year to accept the hearing aid. Participants were also asked about the probable cause of their child’s hearing loss. Fourteen participants (35%) reported that they were uncertain about the cause of their child’s hearing loss. Participant’s were also asked about the concern of the child’s father towards the child’s disability. The participants on being asked about their husband’s perception regarding hearing aid and speech therapy, thirty four participants (85%) reported that their husbands find hearing aid and speech therapy to be beneficial for the child with six participants (15%) responding negatively to the question. Two participants (5%) reported their child’s grand parents to be least supportive. Ten participants (25%) reported other family members to be least supportive. Participants were also asked about their family member’s observation regarding improvement in speech and hearing capability of the child, six months after fitting of hearing aid and speech therapy, thirty four participants (85%) reported that their family members observed improvement in the child’s speech and hearing capabilities after hearing aid fitting and speech therapy. Twenty six participants (65%) reported that the child gets highly disturbed by traffic noise while wearing hearing aid. Five participants (12.5%) reported sound of loud crackers to be most disturbing to the child. Twenty participants (50%) reported that between 1-2 years of age they suspected hearing loss in their child. This finding is suggestive of the awareness among participants regarding he treatment of children with hearing loss. Only 4 participants (10%) reported, the hearing loss to have been identified at hearing screening camps. 65% of the participants reported that it took them 3-6 months to accept their child’s hearing loss and the benefit provided by the hearing aid & speech therapy. Sixty percent of the participants reported to be spending 3-4 hours extra time with their child with hearing loss. Fifty five percent of participants reported that it took 3 to 6 months for the child to accept the hearing aid. Thirty nine percent of participants expressed concern over the traveling charges for therapy with thirty eight and thirty four percent of participants reporting concern for hearing aid maintenance and hearing aid repairing. Conclusion: This study has attempted to highlight various areas such as societal and parental level of understanding of hearing loss and hearing aids and also other issues associated with it. The results of the study if incorporated in parental counseling procedure could help in maximum mobilization of resources towards the hearing impaired children. Future research on this study using a large sample is required for generalization of the results