Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:33:21.538Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Congenital and early-onset bilateral hearing impairment in children: the delay in detection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Eero Vartiainen  and
Seppo Karjalainen
Eero Vartiainen*
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
Seppo Karjalainen
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
*
Address for correspondence: E. Vartiainen, M.D., Department of Otolaryngology, Kuopio University Hospital, FIN-70210 Kuopio, Finland. Fax: +358-17-172509
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A retrospective review of 168 consecutive children with congenital or early-onset bilateral hearing impairment (>25 dB, 0.5–4 kHz, in the better hearing ear) was conducted. Only 39 per cent of the hearingimpaired children were diagnosed within the first two years of life. The age at diagnosis was related to the severity of hearing loss with profound (>95 dB) hearing losses being detected earlier than the other degrees. However, 37 per cent of children with severe to profound (>70 dB) hearing loss were still not diagnosed until after two years of age. Children with severe to profound hearing loss and with known risk factors were diagnosed earlier than children with the same hearing status but with no known risk factors. It was concluded that the behavioural hearing screening tests used in our well-baby clinics are insufficient and, therefore, more reliable methods, preferably evoked otoacoustic emissions, should be used for universal hearing screening of infants and young children in spite of the great cost.

Keywords

AudiometryDeafnessChildNeonatal screening
Type
Main Articles
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 111 , Issue 11 , November 1997 , pp. 1018 - 1021
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bonfils, P., Dumont, A., Marie, P., Francois, M., Narcy, P. (1990) Evoked otoacoustic emissions in newborn hearing screening. Laryngoscope 100: 186–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, A., Wood, S. (1992) The epidemiology of childhood hearing impairment: factors relevant to planning of services. British Journal of Audiology 26: 77–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Decreton, S. J. R. C., Hanssens, K., De Sloovere, M. (1991) Evoked otoacoustic emissions in infant hearing screening. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 21: 235–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dias, O., Andrea, M. (1990) Childhood deafness in Portugal – aetiological factors and diagnosis of hearing loss. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 18: 247–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Francois, M., Bonfils, P., Narcy, P. (1995) Screening for neonatal and infant deafness in Europe in 1992. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 31: 175–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Galambos, R., Hicks, G. E., Wilson, M. J. (1984) The auditory brain stem response reliably predicts hearing loss in graduates of a tertiary intensive care nursery. Ear and Hearing 5: 254–260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrison, M., Roush, J. (1996) Age of suspicion, identification, and intervention for infants and young children with hearing loss: a national study. Ear and Hearing 17: 55–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hyde, M. L., Riko, K., Malizia, K. (1990) Audiometric accuracy of the click ABR in infants at risk for hearing loss. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology 1: 59–66.Google ScholarPubMed
Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (1994) 1994 position statement. Audiology Today 6: 6–7.Google Scholar
Kok, M. R., van Zanten, G. A., Brocaar, M. P., Wallenburg, H. C. S. (1993) Click-evoked oto-acoustic emissions in 1036 ears of healthy newborns. Audiology 32: 213–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kvaerner, K. J., Arnesen, A. R. (1994) Hearing impairment in Oslo born children 1989–91. Incidence, etiology and diagnostic delay. Scandinavian Audiology 23: 233–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markides, A. (1986) Age at fitting of hearing aids and speech intelligibility. British Journal of Audiology 20: 165–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin, J. A. M., Bentzen, O., Colley, J. R. T., Hennebert, D., Holm, C., Iurato, S., de Jonge, G. A., McCullen, O., Meyer, M. L., Moore, W. J., Morgan, A. (1981) Childhood deafness in the European community. Scandinavian Audiology 10: 165–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marttila, T. I., Karikoski, J. O. (1996) Identification of childhood hearing impairment in Uusimaa County, Finland. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 34: 45–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newton, V. E. (1985) Aetiology of bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss in young children. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 99(Suppl. 10): 1–57.Google Scholar
Parving, A. (1991) Detection of the infant with congenital/early acquired hearing disability. Acta Oto-Laryngologica (Suppl. 482): 111–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramkalawan, T., Davis, A. C. (1992) The effects of hearing loss and age of intervention on some language metrics in a population of young hearing-impaired children. British Journal of Audiology 26: 97–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, C., Aldridge, S., Jarman, F., Sauders, K., Poulakis, Z., Oberklaid, F. (1995) Late diagnosis of congenital sensorineural hearing impairment: why are detection methods failing? Archives of Disease in Childhood 72: 11–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salamy, A., Eldredge, L., Sweetow, R. (1996) Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions: feasibility in the nursery. Ear and Hearing 17: 42–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed