Early identification of hearing loss: listen to parents.

Families of 49 hearing-impaired children responded to a questionnaire requesting information about the identification of their child's hearing loss. Parents were the first to suspect the hearing loss in 48 cases but more often than not were told that the child would outgrow it or was too young to test. When professionals agreed with the parents and attended to their concerns, confirmation of the hearing loss occurred significantly more rapidly than when they disagreed with parents and ignored their concerns. A child whose hearing loss is not clearly identified and whose communication is inadequate or nonexistent, causes frustration and stress within the family and prevents the child from receiving the maximum benefit from early language input and amplification. It would benefit both the child and family if professionals would listen to parental concerns regarding their child and assist in the early identification process.