Bursary competition 2009

SM13 Developing outcome measures for children identified through newborn hearing screening

We are entering a new era of early identification of permanent childhood hearing impairment in Scotland. The vanguard has been the successful introduction of newborn hearing screening which has made it possible for the majority of children with congenital hearing impairment to be identified within the first few weeks of life. However, early identification alone is not proof against social isolation, educational failure and reduced quality of life for the hearing impaired child. Clearly we need evidence that our efforts to improve outcomes for hearing impaired children through early identification are achieving that aim. However, our current ability to measure these outcomes is severely limited, as the development of outcome measures for monitoring children with hearing impairment has not kept pace with the progress in newborn hearing screening.

The first stage in the proposed research would be a retrospective study to collate and analyse existing data relating to the language and educational achievements of Scotland’s hearing impaired children during the years prior to the implementation of newborn hearing screening. The second stage would be the development of a protocol for the collection of prospective data on all aspects of audiological management, habilitative support and language and educational outcomes for hearing impaired children in Scotland.

For further information contact Dr Jo White or Pauline Campbell

For more about Speech Sciences research at QMU see SSRC

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