In this one-hour course for pediatric audiologists, speech pathologists, and early interventionists, we will examine parent counseling for parents of children with hearing loss across several time points in the clinical course of care. This course will be rooted in peer-reviewed evidence and present original research by the author about the impact of adding objective measurements of audibility to our descriptions of hearing loss. In this course, we will also examine the state of the literature supporting clinical decision making about candidacy for hearing technology and review the main types of bias that can potentially influence our thinking about who is and is not a candidate. This course will present practical strategies for increasing the use of objective measurements to support recommendations. There will be an emphasis on the use of audibility as a counseling tool and in support of candidacy conversations with families of children with hearing loss.

Learning Objectives

• Contrast the descriptive tools available to audiologists to characterize childhood hearing loss and examine the potential benefits and drawbacks of each.
• Recognize the potential benefits of audibility-based counseling for parents of children with hearing loss
• Examine parent-report experiences with the early diagnostic process and develop strategies for integrating audibility measurements throughout the diagnostic and management process.