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INTRODUCTION
Communication is fundamental in the life of the human being, as it enables interpersonal relationships and daily social interactions. Hearing loss (HL) can interfere with communication and the acquisition of the language used by listeners(1). Deaf people, in most cases, have severe HL, resulting in little or no hearing, and use sign language as their means of communication(2).
Deaf people can understand the world through eye contact. For them, the use of sign language and writing, allows their cultural, cognitive and social development (3).
In this regard, family also plays a relevant role, especially during the individual's educational process and influences the deaf person´s personal development. Family is the first human support network, governed by values, beliefs, goals and behaviors. Through communication, their family helps them to develop their own personality and establish social relationships with the community(4).
However, when communication is impaired due to HL, hearing parents are faced with an unknown situation, as in most cases they have never or had little contact with deaf people and in general, communication interactions are few, impoverished and often with failures, because they are not fluent in sign language(5). Thus, more than 90% of deaf children are from families of non-deaf parents(4). This collision of language culture triggers changes in the quality of communication of family members, discrepancy of information in relation to health guidelines and negative emotions and harmful responses to mental health (6).
The Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) is the main means of communication used in deaf culture, and supports the relationship between deaf people and society, enabling their inclusion in the community (7).
It should be noted that parents who do not accept their child's HL, or even who do not learn Libras, tend to use only mime to communicate with them. However, this conduct hinders adequate communication with the external environment, because by using the same language, the deaf person´s friends and the deaf community are a reference full of emotions, thus establishing a model of the deaf person´s individual identity(8).
With regard to health services, it is noteworthy that there are few professionals or interpreters who communicate in the deaf person´s own language(7), which requires that a hearing companion be present during the consultations. In these cases, communication is made...