ABSTRACT
Objective To obtain suitable hearing screening methods for preschool children.Methods A total of 2025 children aged 2~6 years old in 30 kindergartens in Huangshi City were selected by random sampling method.Acoustic impedance and otoacoustic emission tests(transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions and distortion product otoacoustic emissions) were performed in two stages of preliminary hearing screening.The children who failed the hearing screening needed to do the re-creening with the same methods;the children who failed the rescreening needed to receive audiological tests including ABR, ASSR examination and imaging examinations.Results The total screening pass rate was 94.02%, of which 1 842 passed the preliminary hearing screening(90.96%, 1 842/2 025).The 183 children who failed the preliminary hearing screening received the re-screening, 62 children passed the re-screening(33.88%,62/183).121 children failed the re-screening(5.98%,121/2 025), and finally 72 children(3.56%,72/2 025)were diagnosed with hearing loss, including 47 cases of otitis media,22 cases of sensorineural hearing loss(8 cases were moderate, 4 cases were severe hearing loss,10 cases were profound);18 cases were unilateral hearing loss while 4 cases were bilateral hearing loss.Conclusion Acoustic impedance and otoacoustic emission tests can be used for hearing screening in preschool children.The hearing problems of preschool children in Huangshi City were concentrated mainly in the middle ear secretory otitis media and different degree of sensorineural hearing loss.