Carew Peter, Shepherd Daisy A, Smith Libby, Soh Qi Rui, Sung Valerie
Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia .
Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia .
Front Pediatr. 2023 Aug 14;11:1210282. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1210282. eCollection 2023.
We aimed to describe the language and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes of children early-identified with unilateral or mild bilateral permanent hearing loss. This was a cross-sectional community-based study of children with mild bilateral or unilateral permanent hearing loss (including unilateral auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD)), drawn from a population-based databank in Victoria, Australia.
Enrolment in this databank is independent of early intervention and amplification approaches. Language and caregiver-reported HRQoL outcomes are described by type and degree of loss at three timepoints across child development: at age 2 years ( = 255), 5-7 years ( = 173) and 9-12 years ( = 45).
Across all age groups, average language outcomes were poorer than population normative scores by between a half to two thirds of a standard deviation. Children with mild bilateral hearing loss demonstrated poorer average language outcomes than children with unilateral hearing loss, particularly at younger ages. Children with unilateral ANSD showed language outcomes comparable to their peers with unilateral profound hearing loss. Children had poorer HRQoL psychosocial scores compared to physical scores, without obvious patterns of outcomes linked to degree or type of hearing loss.
This study demonstrates children with early-identified unilateral or mild bilateral hearing loss have average language and HRQoL outcomes poorer than population normative expectations from an early age. These outcomes are observed at later ages across childhood. These findings provide a contemporary description of language and quality of life outcomes for children identified but not targeted by universal newborn hearing screening and raise questions of how to provide better support for these populations of children and their families.
我们旨在描述早期被诊断为单侧或轻度双侧永久性听力损失的儿童的语言及与健康相关的生活质量（HRQoL）结果。这是一项基于社区的横断面研究，研究对象为患有轻度双侧或单侧永久性听力损失（包括单侧听神经病谱系障碍（ANSD））的儿童，数据来自澳大利亚维多利亚州的一个基于人群的数据库。
该数据库的登记与早期干预和放大方法无关。通过儿童发育过程中的三个时间点（2岁（n = 255）、5 - 7岁（n = 173）和9 - 12岁（n = 45））的听力损失类型和程度来描述语言及照顾者报告的HRQoL结果。
在所有年龄组中，平均语言结果比人群常模分数低半个到三分之二个标准差。轻度双侧听力损失的儿童平均语言结果比单侧听力损失的儿童差，尤其是在较年幼时。患有单侧ANSD的儿童的语言结果与单侧重度听力损失的同龄人相当。与身体方面的分数相比，儿童的HRQoL心理社会分数较差，且没有与听力损失程度或类型相关的明显结果模式。
本研究表明，早期被诊断为单侧或轻度双侧听力损失的儿童，其平均语言和HRQoL结果从幼年起就比人群常模预期的要差。这些结果在儿童期后期也有体现。这些发现对已被识别但未被普遍新生儿听力筛查所针对的儿童的语言和生活质量结果进行了当代描述，并提出了如何为这些儿童及其家庭提供更好支持的问题。
