Clinical balance assessment tools for children with hearing loss: A scoping review

Abstract

Balance dysfunction exists in children with hearing loss, especially sensorineural loss, impacting on cognitive development, socio-emotional development and literacy. However, there is limited assessment of balance in this population, which has further impedes childhood development. The objective of this review was to identify clinical, low- technology and inexpensive tools used to evaluate balance in children with hearing loss. Methods: A scoping review method with reference to the JBI, was used where a search was conducted on electronic databases including EBSCOHost, MEDLINE, PubMED, Web of Science and Wiley. In addition, gray literature and hand searches were also used. The review included children between 3 – 15 years of age with hearing loss. Results: A total of 53 articles were found where 53% of the tests were norm-referenced tests, 44% were criterion referenced tests and 2% could not be identified. Conclusion: Tests such as the Tandem gait test, Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction for Balance (mCTSIB)/Pediatric Version of Clinical Test for Sensory Interaction of Balance (P-CTSIB), Dynamic Gait Index and the Timed-up-and-Go were identified to be relatively inexpensive and low-technology based clinical tools and have thus, been summarized in this review.