Postural control in children with typical development and children with profound hearing loss

Abstract

PurposeTo describe the behavior of the postural control in children with profound sensorineural hearing loss and compare the results of experimental tests with hearing children aged 7 to 10 years.Patients and methodsThis is a cross-sectional study where 100 children were divided into experimental and control groups. We used a force platform, AccuSway Plus, where the tests were conducted under the experimental conditions: open base, eyes open (OBEO); open base, eyes closed (OBEC); closed base, eyes open (CBEO); closed base, eyes closed (CBEC). The body sway velocity (V) of the center of pressure, the displacement in the anteroposterior direction (COPap) and mediolateral (COPml) of the center of pressure were the parameters to evaluate the postural control. For statistical analysis we used the nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test, with a significance level of 5%.ResultsIn comparisons of variables between the groups, the experimental group outperformed by at least 75% of the control group values. In terms of global trends, the experimental group shows higher values of body oscillations in all experimental conditions and variables evaluated. Children with hearing loss had poorer balance performance compared to the group of hearing. The inferential analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in the balance between deaf and hearing children in the OBEC experimental condition in relation to the COPml parameter (P = 0.04). There were no statistically significant differences in comparisons between the sexes when the groups were analyzed separately. The prevalence of unknown etiology showed 58% of cases and congenital rubella in 16%. The discovery of deafness occurred in 70% of children before the age of 3 years.ConclusionIn this study, children with hearing loss had poorer balance performance compared to the group of hearing children. This finding confirms the need to investigate postural control through longitudinal studies to identify the area of sensory deficit causing poor balance performance and promote more specific early interventions.

The assessment of static balance in children with hearing, visual and intellectual disabilities

“…Thus, the mean age of HI children, which is an important factor in their balance ability, could be related to their mature balance skills. However, other authors have reported larger COP scores for children with HI than for control groups (de Sousa, Barros, & de Sousa Neto, 2012;Gheysen et al, 2008).…”

Evaluation of postural control in children and adolescents with down syndrome aged eight to twelve years old

“…However, such differences (sex and nutritional status) were not observed in the present study. Sousa et al 36 also failed to find differences in PC between sex in children with hearing disorders. The authors justified the lack of differences based on the fact that preschoolers' body structure is similar regardless sex, being almost impossible to distinguish when seen from the posterior view.…”

“…Sousa et al 36 compared PC of 43 children with hearing disorder with 57 children with normal development aged between 7 and ten years old. The study did not find differences in the mean of COP and total VEL at the positions of feet together and separated with open eyes.…”

Long‐term evaluation of sound localisation in single‐sided deaf adults fitted with a BAHA device

“…The third source of potential improvement in localisation ability lies in the fact that the BAHA device may participate via new proprioceptual inputs to the definition of the body map allowing modification of the sound depth perception as well as the sound localisation. Recent studies have pointed out the relationship between deafness and posture with a higher incidence of postural changes in the spine. Concerning the relationship with motor performance, it has been reported that children with hearing loss had greater limitation when compared listeners in manual skills (62%), ball skills (52%) and body balance skills (45%) .…”