Barriers and facilitators of hearing aid use in infants 0-2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Barriers and facilitators to optimal hearing aid use in infants: do families of different socio-demographics have the same experiences?
IRAS ID
322087
Contact name
Emilee Gosnell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
Infants with permanent hearing loss after birth are at higher risk of delayed speech and language development, lower academic attainment etc without appropriate intervention. Due to the UK’s Newborn Hearing Screening Protocol (NHSP), hearing losses are identified early and intervention can begin in the first weeks of life. Optimal usage time of hearing aids is around 8-10 hours per day, however datalogging (an option on hearing aid software to view the average time use per day) from many infants who are using hearing aids show inconsistent usage.
There is a limited amount of research which highlights different barriers experienced by families which prevent optimal hearing aid usage such as lack of confidence handling devices, fear of loss, lack of professional support, lack of perceived benefit of hearing aids etc. Most of these studies include white English speaking families as participants and it is well accepted that families outside of these demographics generally have additional issues accessing healthcare services. I would like to research how these barriers differ as a step to ensuring more equitable audiology care for children of all backgrounds.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0031
Date of REC Opinion
14 Feb 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion