RESONATE Project: Increasing Hearing Aid Use in Infants
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The RESONATE Project Study 2: Development of an Equitable Co-designed Intervention to Increase Hearing Aid Use in Infants 0-3
IRAS ID
344193
Contact name
Emilee Gosnell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The National Hearing Screening Protocol (NHSP) aims to screen all newborns in the UK for hearing loss shortly after birth. Newborns who fail their NHSP screen will be referred to an audiology department for further diagnostic testing. Around 1-3 in 1000 newborns will be diagnosed with permanent hearing loss, most of whom will be fitted with hearing aids within 6 weeks of diagnosis. Hearing aids need to be worn for around 10 hours per day for healthy development.
In clinic, it seems that many families struggle to achieve good daily use of their child’s hearing aid(s), particularly when they are under the age of 2. A pilot study completed at a single site hospital last year, found that children between the ages of 0-2 wore their hearing aid(s) for an average of around 4 hours per day, with instances of non- and extremely low-usage also prevalent.
The aim of this study is to produce an equitable two-armed intervention for (1) caregivers and (2) professionals which can support increased hearing aid use in young children under the age of 2. The study will use a co-design methodology to ensure that it meets the needs of both families and professionals and considers the respective challenges they face to achieve/support optimum usage.REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/EE/0119
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jul 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion