Parents' Evaluation of Their Hearing-Impaired Child's Hearing and Speech

Abstract

Although a specialist's advice plays an important role in opting for a cochlear implant operation, it is parents who make the ultimate decision for a child. Parents become interested in cochlear implants after experience with a hearing aid, and some then decide to have their child implanted. What factors are related to that decision-making process? In the first part of this study, a questionnaire was given to 57 parents who have normal hearing and whose hearing-impaired child's hearing level was more than 90 dB. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine the relationship between their evaluation of their child's hearing and speech and their interest in a cochlear implant. In the second part, the same questionnaire was given to 16 parents whose hearing-impaired child had already received a cochlear implant operation. By comparing the results for the pre- and postoperation questionnaires, we examined how parents evaluate an implantation's effectiveness on their child's hearing and speech. The factors that make parents decide for their child to receive a cochlear implant operation, and the validity of their evaluation of their child's hearing and speech, were considered.