Outcomes From an Interprofessional Preschool Hearing Health Education Program.

Purpose: Outcomes from an interprofessional preschool hearing health education curriculum, Love My Ears (LME), are presented. LME was developed by an audiologist, speech-language pathologist, and early childhood educator and was presented previously. The importance and efficacy of early hearing health education are discussed. Method: LME was delivered as a 5-week pull-out program for three separate groups of six children each (total = 18) in a preschool educational setting. Three broad concept areas were taught: sound/hearing, volume/sound safety, and steps for hearing protection. Postprogram assessments were conducted and reported for 15 children (Mage = 4.9 years). The assessment evaluated knowledge of 12 concepts within the three broad concept areas. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the efficacy of the LME program. The number and percentage of children that correctly identified each of the concept items were tallied. A correct overall response of 80% or greater was considered indicative of the successful achievement of a concept item. Results: Outcomes revealed the greatest accuracy (≥ 80%) in descriptive concepts related to sound/hearing (2/4), volume/sound safety (2/4), and hearing protection (4/4), supporting the efficacy of preschool hearing health education. Topic-specific vocabulary was less well learned. Conclusion: These outcomes revealed that hearing health education using a specifically designed interprofessional curriculum such as LME is effective in a preschool population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]