Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment

The LOCHI study is a population-based longitudinal study that prospectively evaluates the development of a group of Australian children with hearing loss as they grow up. This study is unique in its inclusion of children whose hearing loss was diagnosed through either Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS), or standard care; and all of whom access the same post-diagnostic services provided by Hearing Australia. This means that their results can be fairly compared, whenever and wherever their hearing loss was discovered.

This study addresses the following research questions:

• Does Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) and early intervention improve the outcomes of children with hearing loss at a population level?

• What factors influence the outcomes of children with hearing loss?

• Can early performance predict later outcomes of children with hearing loss?

This study is partly supported by the US National Institutes of Health and the HEARing CRC.