RESUMEN
Background: Neurologic disorders are not rare in our environment but studies determining the hearing of these children are almost non- existent. This study therefore is to determine the prevalence of hearing loss in these children and also determine the care seeking attitude of the parents/guardians concerning the hearing.Methods: A hospital based descriptive study of all children attending the children neurologic clinic of university of Port Harcourt teaching hospital. A semi structured questionnaire was administered to parents / guardians who gave their consent for their children to be recruited into the study. Hearing loss in the children was taken as reported by the parents/guardians. Data collected were then entered into Microsoft Excel and then exported to the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for statistical analysis.Results: The study comprised 49 children; 29 males and 20 females. Age range was from 8months to 18years. Age group 1-5 years comprised the majority of the study population. Commonest neurological disorder seen was childhood epilepsy n=27, 55.1%. Prevalence of hearing loss was 26.5%. Children with childhood epilepsy had 15.4% having hearing loss while children with cerebral palsy, autistic spectrum disorder and microcephaly had 50% hearing loss recorded. Maternal illness during pregnancy was significantly related to the hearing loss with a p value = 0.045 and presence of neonatal illness with p value =0.009. Only 7.7% was formally treated while 92.3% had no form of treatment whatsoever.Conclusions: Childhood epilepsy was the commonest type of neurologic disorder seen while highest point prevalence for hearing loss was in cerebral palsy. Majority of parents/caregivers did not seek medical care concerning the hearing loss neither were there any form of treatment given to the children.
RESUMEN
OBJETIVO: Revisar a literatura sobre a perda auditiva associada ao envelhecimento e suas implicações, numa perspectiva atual. REVISÃO DA LITERATURA: Nos estudos realizados no Brasil, a presbiacusia vem sendo apontada como causa mais freqüente da deficiência auditiva em pessoas idosas, implicando em uma dificuldade de compreensão durante a comunicação verbal. Estudos internacionais também mostram alta prevalência da perda auditiva em pessoas idosas. DISCUSSÃO: Segundo pesquisas recentes, à medida que o quantitativo da população idosa vem aumentando, também aumenta a prevalência da presbiacusia que interfere na qualidade de vida do idoso. Mesmo entre os profissionais de saúde, ainda é grande o desconhecimento em relação às vantagens e ganhos que a reeducação auditiva específica para idosos com perda auditiva pode oferecer. CONCLUSÃO: Os artigos aqui analisados mostraram que os serviços de saúde da rede pública, que envolvem médicos e fonoaudiólogos, devem estabelecer diretrizes para o desenvolvimento de programas de diagnóstico, aquisição de aparelhos de amplificação sonora individual e, principalmente, de reeducação auditiva para os idosos portadores de presbiacusia, para que eles possam participar e desfrutar das relações sociais, mantendo uma boa qualidade de vida. Entretanto, no Brasil, os estudos e pesquisas nesta área estão apenas começando.
AIM: to review the literature on aging-related hearing loss and its current impacts. LITERATURE REVIEW: In studies carried out in Brazil, presbycusis has been blamed for being the most frequent cause of hearing loss in the elderly, causing verbal communication impairment. International studies also show the high prevalence of hearing loss in the elderly. DISCUSSION: According to recent investigations, as the number of elderly people increase, the prevalence of presbycusis interfering in the life quality of this population also increases. Even among health care professionals, there is a huge lack of knowledge about the advantages and gains a specific hearing reeducation can bring about for the elderly with hearing impairment. CONCLUSIONS: the papers hereby analyzed showed that the public health care centers with physicians and speech and hearing therapists, should establish the guidelines for the development of diagnostic programs, purchase of hearing aids and, most specially, hearing reeducation for the elderly with presbycusis, so that they may enjoy their social relations, and thus enhance their life quality. However, in Brazil, studies and research in this area only beginning.