In Brief:
This population-based Australian study reports on outcomes for 7 to 8 yr olds with congenital hearing loss born before the advent of universal newborn hearing screening. The children received intervention and hearing aids soon after diagnosis, and none had intellectual disability. The outcome measures assessed language, articulation, reading, adaptive functioning, health-related quality of life, parent developmental concerns, parent- and teacher-reported intelligibility and behavior, and teacher-reported school functioning. For every outcome measure except physical health, these children scored significantly worse than the relevant normative population. In future studies, the present data may serve as a benchmark to help demonstrate improving outcomes for children with hearing loss at a population level in the universal newborn hearing screening era.
