Abstract
Background: Hearing is fundamental for language acquisition and socioemotional development. Public awareness of ear health and hearing loss is essential for early intervention and treatment, but the level of parents' awareness of ear health in Madinah region, KSA, is yet unknown.
Objectives: To evaluate parents' awareness of ear health and hearing loss in Madinah region, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. It had been conducted with a 2 months' duration (October to November 2020). A self-administered electronic questionnaire was distributed among 1577 Saudi parents using simple random sampling. Non-Saudi parents and those who live outside Al-Madinah region were excluded.
Results: Out of 1577 parents who participated in the questionnaire, 65.3% were mothers, and 34.7% were fathers. Females had the highest mean of correct responses compared to males (0.745 +/- .1265 vs 0.743 +/- .1335). Furthermore, the mean number of correct responses differed significantly among various age groups (P = 0.001). Parents aged 50-59 years old had the highest mean of correct answers (.758 +/- .1247).
The educational level had been also significantly associated with awareness level (P = 0.011). Parents who completed their intermediate school had the highest mean of correct answers (.803 +/- .1219). Also, high monthly income had been significantly associated with parents' awareness level (P = 0.002).
Conclusion: Parents' awareness of ear health is good, particularly among older aged parents and high monthly income groups. Thus, we suggest implementing an educational program/material to be available for new parents as well as the general population.