The professionals will share information based on their own clinical or professional expertise as well as the best available scientific evidence. Neither alone is enough.

Professional knowledge and skills help the clinician, such as the doctor or audiologist, to tailor the information to your child’s needs. If your child has a profound hearing loss, their information will be appropriate for profound hearing loss and not mild hearing loss where the options are different, for example.

The best available scientific evidence is also necessary. You should rely on professionals to keep up-to-date on research in their area of expertise. You should also expect that they will seriously examine the quality of the evidence, so the information they give to you is trustworthy and relevant to your needs.

Each decision you make will have two or more options. Firstly, you need to know what your options are, and secondly, you need information that helps you compare your options.

• What are the pros and cons of each option?
• Are there any unknowns?
• What does each option involve?

Descriptive information describes what options are and what is required if you choose that option.

Evaluative information is evidence-based information that compares the benefits as well as the risks and uncertainties of options. It is important to compare short- and long-term risks, as well as benefits when making an informed choice. 

Balanced information aims to minimise our cognitive biases.

Balanced information is:

• Complete – the information includes all the relevant options including risks, benefits, uncertainties, procedures, and short- and long-term consequences of choosing each option.
• Unbiased – the information should be presented in a way that doesn’t nudge or influence you towards a particular option or choice.
• Neutral – the information describes the benefits and risks in a similar way without making judgements.

Information should be balanced in both content and presentation and allow you to process the information without bias.

Jargon describes the special terms used by many professionals and groups. These unfamiliar words, abbreviations, acronyms (shortening of names to their initials) affect your understanding of the information. It is often difficult for experts to remember that what is familiar to them, can be completely new to you. So, don’t be afraid to ask what the words mean.

Information needs to be given to you in a way that you understand. If you don’t understand the information, tell the professional. Ask then to provide the information either in a simpler language, different formats, or with illustrations and pictograms. Keep asking the necessary questions until you are confident that you understand the information which you need.