Audiometric Testing of School Children

Abstract

HEARING of school children in Reading, Pa., was tested biennially during the 8 school years 1946-47 through 1953-54 by the staff of the Reading School District. In 1952, results of these tests were used in a study of 1,726 children in the fifth and sixth grades conducted under the auspices of the School Health Committee of the Pennsylvania Public Health Association. These children were selected because they had been tested biennially for a 6-year period. The 6-year study included prognostic implications and the relationship of hearing to academic retardation. In a report of the 1952 findings, the effectiveness of a biennial audiometric testing routine was evaluated, procedures for sweep check and threshold audiometric tests were described, and some of the definitions used in the study were given (1). The present report covers the 8-year period 1946-54. The study continues to explore the question of the optimum periodicity of routine audiometric testing, measures the apparent impact of hearing impairment on academic progress, identifies certain prognostic signs, makes observations on the audiometric patterns of children between 5 and 14 years of age. Audiograms have been analyzed and the data are presented according to the ear involved and the age of the children rather than their Dr. Wishik is professor of maternal and child health and Miss Kramm is research associate in maternal and child health,

Epidemiologic Studies of Otitis Media among Eskimo Children

“…Twenty-seven percent of the study children had hearing impairments of more than 25 decibels-much higher than the 1 percent reported among 5,000 New York City preschool children (8) or the 7 percent among 1,700 school children in Reading, Pa. (9). The impairment is similar, however, to the deficit of 20 decibels or more reported for 26 percent of 289 Aleut children (10) and for 23 percent of 899 Alaska Indians (1).…”

Evaluation of hearing testing program in New York City elementary schools

“…In the time study group, the average number of screening tests each child received in the 5year period was 2.4, somewhat lower than the theoretical three tests each pupil should have received. As shown in the following tabula¬ tion, more than 80 percent of the group had re¬ ceived either two or three screening tests, but 3 percent had never been tested: Over the 5-year period, 58 of the 521 children, or 11.2 percent, were found to have an auditory impairment on at least one screening test. This percentage is somewhat higher than that re¬ ported by Wishik (6.7 percent) from a study of pupils over an 8-year period (3).…”

“…The possibilities include hesitancy on the part of the parents, delay in school action, and lack of clinical facilities to handle testing. The time lapse between clinical examination and the report to the school, which could be determined for only 22 children (9 per¬ cent of the 225), ranged from 1 day to 2 months, with a median of 3 weeks.…”

“…Grade at first hearing test for pupils in time study group, 1956-61 five percent were tested for the first time in sec¬ ond grade, and small percentages were initially tested in the third and fourth grades. At the time of this study, when all members of the group were f ourth-graders, 3 percent had never been tested.…”