Hearing Screening of Infants and The Importance of Early Language Acquisition

Sammanfattning: This thesis explores the parental perspective on hearing-screening of children, and the importance of the time of detection of a congenital hearing impairment for the child's development. A qualitative approach based mainly on interviews was employed, and the results were analysed according to three different methods - empirical phenomenology, grounded theory, and case-study.The primary aims in the present investigation were to describe the parents' experiences, and the possible advantages and disadvantages for the child in early detection of a hearing impairment. The thesis is based on four studies. The first study describes parental experiences and opinions regarding neonatal hearing screening. The second study describes parental reactions to late confirmation of a congenital hearing impairment. In the third study the parents' experiences in early and late confirmation are compared. The fourth study focuses the importance of early or late confirmation of a congenital hearing impairment for the child's linguistic and social development.The results can be summarised as follows: Early detection of a congenital hearing impairment facilitates understanding of the child's needs, and promotes better interaction within the family. Parents clearly prefer early knowledge of whether their child has a hearing impairment or not. With traditional screening methods the impairment is often detected much too late. A late detection is associated with much uncertainty, anxiety and frustration. The results also show the importance of early sign language acquisition for infants with a profound congenital hearing impairment not only for language development, but also for social development.To optimise the potential benefit of neonatal hearing screening, the habilitation program should be adapted according to the new conditions that are present when a hearing impairment is detected in the newborn period. For children with profound hearing impairment and who have hearing parents it is a matter of vital importance to provide the opportunity of an early start in developing language by signing.In conclusion, the thesis shows that late detection brings about many hardships for the family and has a negative impact on the child's linguistic and social development. From the parents' perspective, early detection of a hearing impairment is a crucial step towards understanding the needs of a child with hearing impairment.