Study participant FAQs

Here are some FAQs about study participation. If you have any other questions please click here and fill in your details. We’ll then get in touch with you. Alternatively, you can contact the project lead, Hannah Cooper, on Hannah.cooper@ucl.ac.uk or call 020 7679 8958.

We realise that the observations we are asking you to complete will take some time so, as a gesture of thanks, we will send you a £20 shopping voucher from Love2Shop if you complete 12 observations over three days.

 What are we trying to do? 

We are trying to find out how babies listen. We also want to know whether the sound environments for deaf babies and hearing babies are similar or different.

 What do we want to know? 

We want to know what happens in the sound environment of your baby/toddler on a typical day.

We also want to know whether families of deaf babies change their sound environments compared to hearing babies.

Why are we trying to find this out? 

We know that radio aids help children in school. They are now being given to babies and toddlers but we are not sure how they can be best used. This research will help us to develop guidelines for using radio aids with babies and toddlers as we will know more about the sound environments they are in.

How will you find this out? 

We would like you to fill in an online form to record your observations of your child and their listening environment at different times of the day. The form is short and shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to fill in. We’d like you do fill it in several times in a day so we can get an idea of the sound environment your baby is in.

The observational tool includes questions about where you are and who is with your baby. It asks what you’re doing and what sounds are around your baby. It also asks you where the sounds are coming from.

How will I remember to record my observations? 

We suggest you set a diary reminder on your phone for every 2 hours on the days you want to fill in your observations starting from when your baby wakes up to when they go to bed.

When should I fill in my observations? 

We would like you to fill in observations on two weekdays and one weekend day during a one-week period.

What if my child is at nursery? 

Do a weekend day and then do the other days just before/after nursery.

What if I can’t fill in observations for a whole day? 

Don’t worry, do as much as you can. If you want to carry on longer than one week, that’s fine.

What if I only remember to do half a day? 

Don’t worry, do as much as you can. You can do another additional day if you want to.