Cooper, Hannah E;
Statham, Catherine;
Kean, Mary;
Davis, Adrian;
Carr, Gwen;
(2024)
Understanding the sound environments of young children: potential implications for radio aid use.
Deafness & Education International
10.1080/14643154.2024.2413223.
(In press).
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Abstract
The objectives of this study were to describe, analyse and compare the sound environments to which deaf and typically hearing children between 3 and 18 months are typically exposed, and identify issues to support the development of guidelines for the use of radio aids in this age group. Thirty parents of children aged 3–18 months (14 deaf children and 16 who were typically hearing) took part. An online survey was devised for this study and was intended to capture the “soundscape” (sounds in the environment) to which both deaf and typically hearing children between 3 and 18 months were usually exposed in their everyday lives at multiple points during the day. The purpose of the survey was to map everyday routine experiences and interactions with their families to assess auditory access and environmental awareness or unawareness. Conceptual content analysis was used to evaluate participant descriptions of sound environments. Differences in child awareness of sound and distances between children and their parents were also analysed. Results showed that both deaf and typically hearing children experience rich and complex soundscapes with plenty of opportunities for learning about the world. Parents of deaf children changed their child’s sound environment compared to parents of typically hearing children, particularly at home, in order to provide easier listening conditions. However, deaf children were often in noisy environments where hearing aids or cochlear implants alone were unlikely to be providing good access to speech and other salient sounds, and radio aids may be beneficial in these circumstances.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Understanding the sound environments of young children: potential implications for radio aid use |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/14643154.2024.2413223 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14643154.2024.2413223 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Deaf; infants; radio aid; remote microphone technology; hard of hearing; toddlers |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > The Ear Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10200687 |
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