A Prospective Study Of The Hearing Loss In Global Developmental Delay Children

ABSTRACT

Background: Developmental disabilities are a group of related chronic disorders of early onset estimated to affect 5–10% ofchildren. Global developmental delay is a subset of developmental disabilities defined as a significant delay in two or more of thefollowing developmental domains Gross/fine motor, speech/language, cognition, social/personal, and activities of daily living.Aim of the Study The aim of this study was to describe the clinical profile and audiological profile in children with globaldevelopmental delay presenting to the pediatric ENT unit.Materials and Methods: The study sample size was a total of 121 children with global developmental delay. Children withcomplaints of global developmental delay underwent a detailed ENT examination including examination under microscope ofear which is the standard of care. Hearing loss was assessed by audiological tests such as behavioral observation audiometry(BOA), otoacoustic emission, brain stem evoked response audiometry (BERA), and tympanometry (Tymps). The degree ofhearing loss was classified using the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association classification.Observations and Results: Among 121 children with global developmental delay, there were 72 (59.5%) males. The meanage of the study group was 3.2 years. The youngest child in the study was 6 months old and the oldest child being 14 yearsold. 25 (20.6%) children participating in the study had syndromic association. Of 121 children, only 36 (29%) presented withspeech delay and suspected hearing loss. BOA done in 242 ears showed 56 (23%) ears with normal hearing, 68 (28%) withhearing loss, and inconsistent report in 38 (15.5%) ears. In the 80 remaining ears (33%), test could not be done.Conclusions: The mean age of referral was 3.2 years in global developmental delay children who were referred for theevaluation of speech delay. Among the 121 global developmental delay children included in the study, 36 (29%) had hearingloss with speech delay. Our study detected a higher incidence of undetected hearing loss of 144 ears (59.5%) in children withglobal developmental delay