Nazia Mumtaz, Shaista Habibullah, Faseeha Shafqat, Anum Aftab.
Benefits of Early Detection among Hearing Impairment in Children; Contemporary Parental Response.
Int J Rehab Sci Jan ;05(02):58-61.

Background: Hearing impairment (HI) refers to partial or complete hearing loss in one or both ears due to neurological or structural damage to any part of ear. This umbrella term covers many forms of HI that varies across types, severity and area of affected anatomical structure. Hearing loss (HL) being a form of invisible disability often goes undiagnosed which hinders early intervention (EI) causing delays in speech- language development. Objectives: This study was aimed to determine awareness among parents regarding benefits of timely detection of hearing impairment. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 125 parents of hearing impaired children. Subject sample was selected through convenient sampling from special education centers for HI in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Results: Data analysis revealed agreement of 119 (95.2%) parents and disagreement of 5 (4%) parents with significance of early detection of HI. Conclusion: Parental awareness regarding importance of early detection of HL is evident in this study. Further studies are required to establish the relationship between timely detection of HI along with appropriate age range for remediation.

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