A study of 102 children who failed a preschool hearing screening was undertaken to describe the effectiveness of the followup procedures used in public health screening programs. Parents of the study children were interviewed to ascertain the parents' ability to understand the purpose of the testing and the technician's comments following the tests, and to initiate some action toward medical diagnosis or treatment of the hearing failure. Among findings were that 91% of the parents that sought followup care responded that the purpose of the test was for the identification of hearing loss, that 94% of parents responding understood that their children had failed the preschool hearing test, and that only eight followup visits by the public health nurse were made. Among recommendations were that technicians counsel parents more fully on the need for them to initiate action toward followup. Appendixes include letters, parental responses to interviews, and sample data. (PHR)