Grandmothers' Perspective on Hearing Loss in Children and Newborn Hearing Screening

Abstract

Aim: To study the opinions of grandmothers of newborns on hearing loss, Newborn hearing screening (NHS) and intervention options. Materials and Methods: 100 grandmothers were interviewed in a tertiary care hospital, using a questionnaire adapted from Olusanya, Luxon and Wirz (2006). The responses were analyzed using frequency distribution. Results: 63% were aware that hearing loss could be congenital. Among the causes studied, more awareness was present for family history (67%), noise exposure (62%), and ear discharge (61%). Less than 50% of the participants were aware of other causes. Majority knew that bewitchment (72%) and ancestral sins (69%) were not a cause for hearing loss. Only 20% were aware that hearing loss could be identified at birth and 12% knew about availability of NHS. 75% thought that intervention is possible for hearing loss, and 33% believed that hearing-impaired children could attend regular school, if intervened. 86% of grandmothers preferred testing soon after birth. 87% preferred OAE compared to BERA (33%) as a screening tool. Hearing aids (92%) and surgery (89%) was widely accepted as intervention for hearing loss. Conclusion: Grandmothers had good awareness on congenital hearing loss. And limited awareness was present on causes of hearing loss, identification of hearing loss at birth, NHS and intervention. Thus, indicating an urgent need to create awareness in the above areas. A demonstration of positive attitude was shown in the results towards NHS and intervention for hearing loss, which will facilitate early identification and intervention.