A Prevalence Study of Hearing Loss among Primary School Children in the South East of Iran

Abstract

Hearing impairment substantially affects child's ability to normally acquire the spoken language. Such negative effects create problems for the child not only in terms of communication but also in terms of achievement in school as well as social and emotional growth. The aim of this research is to study the prevalence of hearing disorders and its relationship to age and gender among primary school students of Zahedan, Iran. In this cross-sectional and descriptive analytical study, 1500 students from elementary schools were screened for hearing loss. The selection of samples was performed using multistage sampling method. Primary information was obtained through direct observation, otoscopy, and audiometric and tympanometric screenings. Data was obtained and analyzed via ANOVA test. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between the age and the prevalence of middle ear abnormal function. Conductive hearing loss in males and females was 8.8% and 7.1%, respectively. In addition, 1% and 0.7% of male and female students, respectively, suffered from sensorineural hearing loss. Results indicated that 20.2% of students of elementary schools in Zahedan needed medical treatment for their problems. Therefore, it is recommended that the hearing screening of school-age children should be included in annual school health programs in this region.

Triagem auditiva escolar: identificação de alterações auditivas em crianças do primeiro ano do ensino fundamental

“…In the present study, the most observed alteration in the meatoscopy was excessive cerumen, which is reported in literature as one of the most frequent causes of alterations in preschool and school-age children 1 . Recent studies have found that the presence of excessive cerumen in the EAC was the most common alteration found in students [20][21][22] , which complies with the results in this study. However, in other researches 10,11,23,24 , there the prevalence of excessive cerumen was a higher than in this study.…”

“…The tympanometry is a quick and objective test designed to evaluate the functional integrity of the tympanic-ossicular system 7,36 , and that has been broadly used in hearing screening programs for precisely identifying conductive alterations. Like in this study, other authors have also observed the predominance of type A curves 37,38 , followed by type C, when performing the tympanometry in the school-age hearing screening 2,7,22,27 .The occurrence of 26.5% of types B, C, As and Ad tympanometric curves in this study's population, which may be related to middle ear and/or auditory tube alterations, infers that the findings were compatible with Therefore, the regular hearing screening of children during their school years would guarantee that they were affected by hearing loss or other preventable alterations. Information in this study demonstrate the importance of prioritizing the identification and early treatment of hearing impairments.…”

“…It is worth emphasizing that the data collection for the present study was performed in these seasons. This type of hearing impairment is the most reported fail in the school-age hearing screening, both in national and international literature 10,22,32,38 . The combination of procedures to identify children with hearing impairments is recommended because children often fail only one of them 6 .…”

Ear Nose Throat (ENT) disorders in Government Schools of Far-Western Nepal

“…Wax was the most common diagnosis in many studies in our country and abroad. 9,10,11,12 It was followed by CSOM-TT and OME. There has been a lot of studies showing OME as a major cause of hearing loss in children.…”

Prevalence of Hearing Loss among First Grade School Children in Tirana,Albania – A Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey

“…A large study including more than 6000 children aged 6-19 years reported that 14.9% of them had some kind of hearing impairment [15], a study among 6581 grade 1 and grade 5 children in Australia found that the prevalence of slight/moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss was 0.88% [16] whereas a UK study suggested that 2.05% of children aged 9-16 years had permanent hearing impairment [17]. In developed countries, the prevalence of hearing impairments among primary school children ranged from 8.8% in Iran [18], 15% in Malasyia [8] but 2.4% in Zimbabwe [19].…”