Identifying the Factors that Affect Consistent Hearing Aid Use in Young Children With Early Identified Hearing Loss: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Objectives: 

This study is a scoping review examining factors that affect consistent hearing aid use in young children with early identified hearing loss (HL).

Design: 

Online databases were used to identify journal articles published between 2009 and 2019, yielding over 1800 citations. The citations were uploaded into an online software product called Covidence that enables scoping/systematic review management. After duplicates were removed, 857 articles were screened by abstract and title name, 93 of which were put through for full-text screening. Twenty-five articles met predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Appraisal tools were utilized to establish the quality of the studies included. Numerical summaries were used to synthesize and describe the data set. Thematic analysis was utilized to identify global and subthemes within the data set.

Results: 

Numerical summaries revealed that over half of the studies in the data set used a quantitative design. Thematic analysis of the data identified four global themes namely, “each child is an individual,” “parents are key,” “parents require support,” and “professionals make a difference.” Each global theme was further divided into subthemes, most of which centered around the parents of children with HL. Each subtheme was categorized as a malleable or a fixed factor that impacts on hearing aid use in young children with HL.

Conclusions: 

This scoping review identified malleable and fixed factors that impact on hearing aid use in young children with HL. These factors centered around the individual characteristics of children with HL, the key responsibility their parents have, and the important contribution that professionals can make. Irrespective of whether factors are malleable or fixed, parents and professionals working with children with HL can have a positive impact on hearing aid use. This is likely to have a flow on, positive impact on their overall communication and learning outcomes.