15th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 13-15, 2016 • San Diego, CA
| - | 9 - Program Evaluation and Quality Improvement
How Accurate Are Parent Reports About Their Child’s Hearing Loss?
Purpose: A frequently used method to measure the prevalence and relationship of hearing loss with other variables is through parent report questionnaires and interviews. The accuracy of parent-reported hearing loss in children has not been well documented. We analyzed the accuracies (i.e., sensitivities and specificities) of parent reporting of childhood hearing loss at identifying examined hearing loss at 25dB or more, 40dB or more, 60dB or more, and 90dB or more.
Methods: Using the a nationally representative sample of over 10,000 children from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) across the years 1988-1994 and 2006-2010, we examined the correlation between parent reported hearing loss in the child and the degree of hearing loss based on a physical examination of the child using standard audiological procedures.
Results: Spearman correlations between hearing loss based on audiological examination and parent reports of hearing loss were relatively low (0.42 – 0.45). Using the results of the audiological examination as the standard, the sensitivity for parents being able to correctly identify if their child had a hearing loss ranged from 0.46 at a pure tone average (PTA) of 25dB; 0.62 at PTA of 40dB; and 0.65 at a PTA of 60dB. Sensitivities were somewhat higher when children were older (12-19 years of age compared to 6-11 years of age), and lower for Hispanic and African American children compared to White children. There were no differences in the sensitivities between male and female children.
Conclusion: The NHANES data suggest that parents’ reports of whether a 6-19 year old child has hearing loss are not accurate. Thus, parents’ reports of hearing loss should not be used in studies to examine the prevalence or association of hearing loss with other variables.
- Conclude that parent report measures of hearing loss are not adequately accurate.
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Presenters/Authors
Tyson Barrett
(Primary Presenter,Author), Utah State University, t.barrett@aggiemail.usu.edu;
I am a PhD student in Social Epidemiology. My passion is turning data into clear, actionable insight, especially when this insight helps improve lives, health, and well-being. Currently, I am a research assistant at the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, helping as a Social Science Statistician with the various, ongoing quantitative projects. I am also a Statistics Consultant at the university.
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No relevant financial relationship exist.
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No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Karen Munoz
(Author), Utah State University, karen.munoz@usu.edu;
Karen Muñoz is an associate professor of audiology at Utah State University in the Department of Communicative Disorders and associate director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management. Her research focus is in the area of childhood hearing loss.
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Karl White
(Author), Utah State University, karl.white@usu.edu;
Dr. White is a Professor of Psychology, the Emma Eccles Jones Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Education, and the founding Director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management. He has been the PI or Co-PI for over $50 million of competitively awarded research. His work has been recognized with awards from such diverse organizations as the Deafness Research Foundation, the American Association for Speech Language and Hearing, The Swedish Society of Medicine, and the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf. He has hundreds of publications and presentations at scholarly meetings, and has been an invited speaker to more than 35 countries. He also serves on many national and international advisory groups for organizations such as the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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