JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Children with hearing loss, even those identified early and who are using hearing aids or cochlear implants, may face challenges in developing spoken language and literacy. This can lead to academic, behavioral, and social difficulties. There are apps for healthy children to improve their spoken language and literacy and apps that focus on sign language proficiency for children with hearing loss, but these apps are limited for children with hearing loss. We have therefore developed an app called Hear Me Read (HMR) which uses enhanced digital stories as therapy tools for speech, language, and literacy for children with hearing loss. The platform has therapist and parent/child modes that allows 1) selection of high quality, illustrated digital stories by a speech-language pathologist (SLP), parent, or child 2) modification of digital stories for a multitude of speech and language targets, and 3) assignment of stories by therapist to facilitate individualized speech and language goals. Additionally, HMR makes the caregiver a core partner in engagement through functionality whereby the caregiver can record video and audio of themselves to be played back by the child.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to evaluate the user experience of the HMR app through a focus group study with caregivers and their children.

Methods:

We recruited 16 participants (8 children with and without hearing loss and 8 caregivers) to participate in one-hour focus groups. Caregivers and children interacted with the app and discussed their experience through a semi-structured group interview. We employed thematic analysis methods and analyzed the data. We used feedback from the focus group to improve elements of the app for a larger clinical trial assessing the impact of the app on outcomes.

Results:

We identified 3 themes: default needs, specific needs and family needs. Participants found the app to be aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. Findings helped us to identify usability attributes and to amend app functionalities to best fit user needs. Caregivers and children appreciated the enhancements, such as parts of speech highlighting and video playback of caregivers reading, that were made possible by the digital format. Participants expressed that the app could be used to enhance family reading sessions and family interaction.

Conclusions:

The findings from this focus group study are promising for the use of educational apps designed specifically for those with hearing loss who are pursuing listening and spoken language as a communication outcome. Further investigation is needed with larger sample sizes in order to understand the clinical impact on relevant language and literacy outcomes in this population.