The current thesis consists of three papers that, through examination of different samples and perspectives, aimed to evaluate health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in children 5-12 years old with different degrees of bilateral hearing loss treated with an amplification device, but otherwise typical development. Their results were compared to peers with normal hearing. A second aim was to evaluate the association between language and communication and HR-QOL. Factors previously found to be associated with HR-QOL or psychosocial issues, such as age at implantation or diagnosis, nonverbal abilities and socioeconomic status, were examined in each paper.
The results suggest that the majority of children and parents perceived the children’s HR-QOL to be comparable to that of their peers with normal hearing. However, the children experienced significantly lower HR-QOL in some domains. Children using cochlear experienced lower QOL in domains related to social and school functioning compared with their peers. For children using hearing aids (HAs), school functioning was the only subdomain affected. Better spoken language skills or better communication skills, were found to be associated with higher HR-QOL. Factors such as age at implantation or diagnosis, nonverbal abilities and socioeconomic status were not found to be associated with HR-QOL.
Based on the findings in the current thesis, recommendations for future praxis are to use the advantages associated with early diagnosis to promote spoken language interventions in children with hearing loss. Improved spoken language skills seem not only to equip children to succeed academically but also to be an important tool for improving overall HRQOL. In addition, more knowledge is required to improve the follow up children receive in school, which should be the target in future studies in order to pinpoint which areas that need improvement. Combined, these strategies may be a step towards providing children with different degrees of hearing loss, educated in mainstream schools, with the same opportunities for well-being as their normal-hearing peers.