Parental Knowledge and Attitudes to Childhood Hearing Loss and Hearing Services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract Background: Childhood hearing is critical to the development of speech, language, and social skills. Hearing loss (HL) can interfere with learning and requires early detection and management. This study aimed to evaluate parental knowledge with attitudes toward childhood HL, and available hearing services across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among parents of children from different regions of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using an online self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 23. This study examined the relationships among socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge and attitudes toward HL using a Chi-square test. Results: Assessment of the prevalence of various aspects of knowledge and attitudes among parents toward childhood HL revealed that 732 (58.4%) participants had a good level of knowledge, while 521 (41.6%) had poor knowledge. Furthermore, the attitude analysis revealed that 871 (69.5%) participants expressed a good attitude, whereas 382 (29.5%) had a poor attitude. A significant association was noted between age group and attitude (P = 0.005). Conclusion: The findings demonstrated a gap in the level of knowledge and significant variation regarding a certain set of risk factors responsible for HL, which highlighted the need for establishing educational programs across the Kingdom to mitigate these harms and promote parental awareness. Parental attitudes toward auditory services were satisfactory; however, efforts are needed to familiarize parents with newborn hearing screening programs that are widely available in the Kingdom.