“I’m sorry to tell you that Sara has a permanent hearing loss.” One of the less glamorous aspects of being an audiologist is telling a parent that his or her child has a hearing loss. Although this is difficult news to deliver, how you convey that information can potentially have as much of an impact as the hearing loss itself.

Instead of apologizing for delivering this news, another way to frame the conversation is to say, “I know this may come as a surprise to you, but…” Although semantically similar to the apologetic statement, qualitative and anecdotal research has shown that parents will remember verbatim how the news was delivered to them. As Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of mental health counseling at Gallaudet University who also teaches counseling skills to audiology students, comments, “This kind of subliminal language, though not intentional, can have real consequences for how the family approaches this news and can set lower or even negative expectations for the abilities of the child”.

Another example of negative messaging is using the word “fail” with regard to newborn hearing screenings. Not only does “fail” suggest a hearing loss that very well may not be present; it can also make parents defensive. As one parent commented, “How could my daughter fail a test that she didn’t know she was taking?” Many institutions, including Boston Children’s Hospital and Gallaudet University, have incorporated this language into their clinical practice.

Knowing your audience is also important. For example, some deaf parents may be excited and happy to learn that their child has a severe to profound hearing loss. As one deaf parent explained, “With my first child, my husband delivered the results of the newborn hearing screening. He came into my room saying, ‘Alright she did it! Our baby passed the test; she’s deaf!’ When this occurred with our second child however, we were both surprised to learn that he passed in the sense that he was hearing and not deaf like us.”

Other deaf parents may be disappointed or have mixed feelings about this news. Most deaf babies are born to hearing parents who are in complete shock when they learn of the results. By framing the news in a neutral manner, you are putting yourself in a position to support the parent and answer any questions they may have.

Although we are certainly not denying the shock and grief that most parents experience when facing a diagnosis of hearing loss, the less negative we can make the message, the better. Suhana Alam, a deaf adult recently selected to speak on a panel of successful deaf college students at the Annual Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Meeting in April commented, “The provider…needs to make sure the parents understand that their child’s brain works just fine; he or she just has limited hearing capability.”

As audiologists, we can then work with the family in providing information on the full range of communication options available to them.

Regardless of whether we are seasoned audiologists with years of experience or new audiologists beginning our professional careers, we are constantly adapting to change in audiology and critical evaluation of our language and word choice are easy adjustments that we can make for our patients and family members.

Cynthia Frey wrote this article with Whitney Kidd. Both are graduate clinicians in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Infants, Toddlers, and Families: Collaboration and Leadership Program at Gallaudet University.