Evaluation of hearing impairment in children of school going age

ABSTRACT

The timely identification of severity of hearing loss in school age children will decrease the morbidity and this morbidity can be corrected by timely treatment. Community-base cohort study. This study was conducted in ENT department of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, KMC,Karachi from January 2011 to Jan 2012. The suspected cases were referred to the ENT department of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital adjoining schools and suspected cases of hearing difficulty noticed by the parents. After taking informed consent from both sexes and age ranges from 6-16 years were included in the study. This study shows male were slight more 54 patients. Highest number of patients was found in 13 years of age 16 patients i.e 16%. In 53 patients risk factor was present. Maximum number of children had moderate hearing loss 26 children [26%]. Early school going child with mild to moderate hearing loss is difficult to detect during routinr examination. Audiological screening is necessary for detection of hearing loss in early school going child