Narrative review of EHDI in South Africa

Abstract

BackgroundWith 17 babies born with hearing loss every day in South Africa, there is a pressing need for systematic Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) services. Progress is being made in offering newborn hearing screening and studies have been conducted to document these processes within South Africa. However, due to the lack of a national and holistic overview of EHDI services to date, an accurate picture of the current status of EHDI within the South African context is required.ObjectiveTo document and profile what has been published within the field of EHDI in South Africa over the last two decades (Jan 1995–Sept 2014) in order to gain a comprehensive overview of the current status and practice of screening and diagnosis in the field of paediatric hearing loss.MethodA narrative review of peer-reviewed articles related to EHDI in South Africa was conducted by searching the EBSCOHOST, SCOPUS and JSTOR databases for the period January 1995 to September 2014.ResultsResults indicate that over the last two decades research and publications in the field of EHDI have increased considerably. These publications have revealed extensive knowledge related to paediatric hearing screening and intervention services in South Africa; however, this knowledge seems to be limited primarily to the provinces of Gauteng and the Western Cape. Furthermore, studies pertaining to diagnosis have revealed that, although much has been written on the scientific aspects on tools for diagnosis of hearing loss, there is a lack of comprehensive information on diagnostic protocols and procedures.ConclusionDespite the clear progress being made in South Africa in the field of early hearing detection and intervention, there is a need for comprehensive studies on protocols and procedures in diagnosing paediatric hearing loss. Finally, the narrative review revealed a clear need to ensure that development and growth in the field of EHDI is a national priority and extends beyond the two provinces currently showing growth.

Hearing impairment detection and intervention in children from centre-based early intervention programmes

“…Early access to quality early intervention (EI) services is a critical component of this successful system (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2013). As a result of the widely reported benefits of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) internationally, numerous EI programmes have been implemented in South Africa through hospital-based, home-based and centre-based programmes (Ackah and Appiah, 2011; Moodley and Storbeck, 2016). Various studies have been conducted to determine the outcomes of hospital-based and home-based EI programmes (Moodley and Storbeck, 2016; Storbeck and Young, 2016).…”

Early hearing screening in South Africa – time to get real about context

“…Review of published literature related to early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) services in South Africa (SA) between 1995 and 2014 has highlighted progress in terms of the journey toward implementation of paediatric hearing screening services. [1] However, in contrast to developed contexts, there are very few outcome studies from developing countries such as SA that support the efficacy of EHDI. This dearth of evidence from developing countries may be due to the lack of integrated, national EHDI programmes.…”

“…Research and conceptual papers related to EHDI in SA have fortunately acknowledged the impracticalities in attempting to implement developed world models of newborn hearing screening (NHS) in developing countries, where context is evidently different. [1] The current status of NHS [3] coupled with manpower-related challenges may possibly suggest that UNHS is currently not applicable in the SA context, particularly in the public healthcare sector, where over 80% of the population receives healthcare. The manpower demand related to a higher prevalence rate of infant hearing loss in the public healthcare sector in SA is not met, as the majority of registered audiologists work in the private healthcare sector.…”

School readiness and academic achievement of children with hearing impairment: A South African exploratory study

“…Unfortunately, only a handful of such programmes in South Africa cater to the needs of children with hearing impairment (Khoza-Shangase 2021; Swanepoel 2009). Moreover, locally relevant evidence demonstrating the outcomes of these programmes for children with hearing impairment is lacking in South Africa (Kanji & Khoza-Shangase 2021; Moodley & Storbeck 2015). To our knowledge, no research has described the academic achievement of children with hearing impairment within the South African context.…”