This thesis explores parental perspectives on hearing-screening of children, and the importance of the time of detection of a congenital hearing impairment for the child's development. A qualitative approach based mainly on interviews was employed, and the results were analyzed according to three different methods-empirical phenomenology, grounded theory, and case-study. The thesis is based on four Swedish studies. The first study describes parental experiences and opinions regarding neonatal hearing screening. The second study describes parental reactions to late confirmation of a congenital hearing impairment. In the third study, the parents' experiences in early and late confirmation are compared. The fourth study focuses the importance of early or late confirmation of a congenital hearing impairment for linguistic and social development. Results indicate early detection of a congenital hearing impairment facilitates understanding of the child's needs and promotes better interaction within the family. Parents clearly preferred early knowledge of whether their child had a hearing impairment or not. A late detection was associated with much uncertainty, anxiety, and frustration. Results also show the importance of early sign language acquisition for infants with a profound congenital hearing impairment, not only for language development, but also for social development. (Contains 108 references.) (CR)