Understanding Parental Perspectives on Childhood Hearing Impairment and Timely Interventions.

Abstract

Objectives: Hearing impairment during childhood is a widespread health issue. Prompt recognition and timely intervention are vital for the advancement of language skills. Insufficient parental knowledge can lead to a delay in diagnosing and treating a condition, which can have a negative impact on academic performance. The goals of our study were to assess the knowledge levels of parents regarding childhood hearing loss and to evaluate their attitudes toward the availability of hearing services.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire. Participants, totaling 339, were recruited from various regions across Saudi Arabia through a stratified random sampling technique to ensure diverse representation. Recruitment was conducted via social media platforms, including Twitter, and WhatsApp. The data were examined using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft® Corp., Redmond, WA) and Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS, version 26.0; IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Armonk, NY).

Result: This study consisted of 339 participants, of whom 295 (87.0%) were female. The 41-50 age group was the most represented at 35.7% (121/339). A total of 76.1% of the participants demonstrated inadequate knowledge regarding childhood hearing loss and its connection to developmental delay. Although the participants had limited knowledge, a significant majority of 82.9% expressed a favorable disposition toward hearing services.

Conclusions: This study emphasizes the existence of significant gaps in knowledge and diverse attitudes toward childhood hearing loss among caregivers. This underscores the urgent need for public health initiatives to tackle these gaps through educational and awareness campaigns. By promoting a well-informed and optimistic approach to hearing health, we can improve the results of early detection and intervention, thereby reducing the long-term effects on speech, language, and cognitive development.