Early identification of pediatric hearing loss is vital to reduce long-term developmental consequences; however, awareness among future healthcare professionals remains limited in many low- and middle-income countries.

To assess the knowledge and perceptions of university students in Jordan regarding pediatric hearing loss.

We conducted a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire that evaluated the students' awareness of the common causes and risk factors for hearing loss in children, perceptions of early intervention, and self-reported confidence in identifying and referring potential cases. The awareness and perception items were grouped into two categories, and misconception rates were calculated as the proportion of respondents answering agree or strongly agree to statements that were factually incorrect. Chi-square tests were conducted to examine associations between participant demographics and response patterns, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.

A total of 411 students participated (response rate: 84.4%); most were aged from 18 to 25 years (81%) and female (53%), with 65% of them enrolled in the Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Jordan. Misconceptions were more common in awareness items (mean: 30.4%), with the highest rate observed for the belief that neonatal meningitis or seizures do not cause hearing loss (44%). Perception items showed lower misconception rates (mean :13.4%), with the highest being that parental suspicion should not influence clinical opinion (26%). The Chi-squared analysis revealed that higher awareness was significantly associated with year of study (p < 0.001), major (p < 0.001), and family history (p < 0.05).

Despite their positive attitudes, students showed limited clinical knowledge. Strengthening audiology education in health science university programs may improve early detection and intervention outcomes in Jordan.

Data will be available upon request to the corresponding author.

Editor-in-Chief: Geraldo Pereira Jotz.

Received: 19 September 2025

Accepted: 22 December 2025

Article published online:
30 April 2026

© 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Reeman Marzouqah, Rama Alasir, Laila Qanawati, Yazan Gammoh. Knowledge and Perceptions of Pediatric Hearing Loss among University Students in Jordan. Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2026; 30: s00461818564.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0046-1818564