New Study Highlights Value of My World Pediatric Tool

By Timothy Cooke

A new study conducted by Jessica Round at the University of Western Australia found that hearing care professionals believe that the My World tool can help improve and enhance the outcomes of pediatric rehabilitation.

For her master’s thesis in clinical audiology, Jessica Round explored whether Ida’s My World tool is needed in professional clinics as part of a pediatric rehabilitation program for hearing impaired children. In the study, Jessica interviewed 28 professionals, including audiologists, Teachers of the Deaf, and psychologists, along with five hearing impaired participants.

A majority of the professionals interviewed for the study felt that My World would help them obtain the child’s perspective of their hearing loss. They felt the tool would enable them to guide the child through a pathway of self-advocacy and self-management in a non-threatening fashion.

“Overall, the tool was well received by the majority of the 28 professionals who were interviewed,” states Jessica Round in the study. “The professionals were very embracing of a new method of counseling hearing-impaired children.”   

While some professionals doubted whether there would be adequate time to add My World to their current practice, a majority of the professional agreed that the child’s perspective needed more of a voice in the consultation session. A more holistic approach rather than one that focuses on audiological information and testing was important. All of the survey participants, for instance, thought that all hearing care professionals should be using the tool and that it should be used during annual reviews with children.

Here are some quotes from the study participants:

“I think it is very negative, but not surprising, that many audiologists worry about time. I think once they see the My World tool in action via the videos they will see that quite quickly you can gain useful information from it. It might even save time guessing what is difficult for a child and trialing something that doesn’t help.” (Study Participant 1)

“I don’t think this tool challenges the traditional components of our role, but rather assists us to ensure that our rehabilitation program is child and family focused. A child’s program does not consist of monitoring audiometry alone, but rather should also take in account the child’s individual needs and goals, and be re-evaluated consistently.” (Study Participant 5)

You can download the complete research study here.

Jessica Round submitted the thesis to the Faculty of Science at the University of Western Australia in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Clinical Audiology. In 2013, Jessica was presented with the Inspiration Award for inspirational achievement in audiology studies. She is currently conducting an audiology internship at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Western Australia.