Outcomes of Early- and Late-identified Children at 3 Years of Age: Findings from a Prospective Population-based Study
Date
2013Author
Ching, Teresa
Dillon, Harvey
Marname, Vivienne
Hou, Sanna
Day, Julia
Seeto, Mark
Crowe, Kathryn
Street, Laura
Thomson, Jessica
Van Buynder, Patricia
Zhang, Vicky
Wong, Angela
Burns, Lauren
Flynn, Christopher
Cupples, Linda
Cowan, Robert S. G.
Leigh, Greg
Sjahalam-King, Jessica
Yeh, Angel
Yeh, Angel
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Objectives—To address the question of whether, on a population level, early detection and
amplification improve outcomes of children with hearing impairment.
Design—All families of children who were born between 2002 and 2007, and who presented for
hearing services below 3 years of age at Australian Hearing pediatric centers in New South Wales,
Victoria and Southern Queensland were invited to participate in a prospective study on outcomes.
Children’s speech, language, functional and social outcomes were assessed at 3 years of age, using
a battery of age-appropriate tests. Demographic information relating to the child, family, and
educational intervention was solicited through the use of custom-designed questionnaires.
Audiological data were collected from the national database of Australian Hearing and records
held at educational intervention agencies for children. Regression analysis was used to investigate
the effects of each of 15 predictor variables, including age of amplification, on outcomes.