Abstract:
It is recognised that children are being exposed to hazardous levels of sound at increasingly younger ages with evidence that growing numbers of children are developing noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) (Folmer, 2003; Folmer, Griest & Martin, 2002; Hidecker, 2008). Experts recommend that hearing loss prevention programmes target young children when they are in their most formative years and before their exposure to loud sound increases during adolescence (Griest, 2007; Chung, 2005). The Hearing Association (Auckland) developed a hearing loss prevention programme, Is It Too Loud? (IITL), that targets children from 3-6 years of age in the Auckland region in response to the dearth of programmes aimed at this age group. The programme has been running since 2012, yet has not been evaluated. The current study evaluated the efficacy of the programme using structured interviews with 30 5- 6 year old children at a primary school in Auckland. Specifically, the current study evaluated the effect the programme had on the participants’ hearing and hearing loss prevention knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour over time (pre-training, post-training and 2-month follow-up). An additional aim was to evaluate whether adding a parent/caregiver education component increased the efficacy of the programme. The results revealed an overall increase in knowledge that was largely retained at follow-up however there was no significant improvement in children’s attitudes or behaviour around hearing and hearing loss prevention. The parental/caregiver training component did not affect the effectiveness of the hearing loss prevention programme. In conclusion, the IITL programme includes many elements known to be associated with effective programmes although there is room to modify some aspects of the programme to potentially increase its effectiveness. The ongoing development and evaluation of hearing loss prevention programmes is necessary if we are to reduce NIHL, a largely preventable and potentially debilitating condition.
