The effect of COVID-19 pandemia on the quality of life of children with hearing loss

With the COVID-19 pandemic, it is observed that the quality of life of individuals worldwide has decreased. The pandemic may have affected children with hearing loss more negatively than their peers. With the quality of life scales that have been used frequently recently, speech-language development, social and educational status of children with hearing loss can be observed better. This study was carried out to evaluate how much their quality of life was affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to individuals with hearing loss between the ages of 6-13 and children with normal hearing in the same age range. The Turkish version of CHIP-CE (Child Health and Illness Profile) and PedsQL (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory) scales were used. In the study; there were 30 children with hearing loss the study group and 21 children with normal hearing in the control group. The Turkish version of CHIP-CE (Child Health and Illness Profile) and PedsQL 4.0 Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory questions were asked face-to-face to all children and the scale was administered. There was no significant difference between the study and contrl groups in the total scores of the CHIP-CE scale (p=0.14, p>0.05) and the PedsQL 4.0 inventory (p=0.35, p>0.05). However, in CHIP-CE, significant differences were found in the subscales of comfort (p=0.000), risks (p=001) and flexibility fields (p=0.000) (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in success (p=0.075) and satisfaction (p=0.086) (p>0.05). In PedsQL 4.0 scale sub-functions, there was a significant difference in social domain (p=0.018) and school function (p= 0.015) (p<0.05), while physical function (p= 0.067) and emotional function domain (p= 0.522) no statistically significant difference was found (p>0.05). As a result, the lack of significance in the total scores may be due to the small number of individuals, and the scale not being suitable for children with hearing loss. Significance in subdomains may be due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or other factors.