Knowledge of village health volunteers regarding hearing loss in children.

ABSTRACT

Hearing loss is one of the most common causes of disability in the world. In young children, hearing loss causes impairment of normal speech and language development resulting in difficulty in communicating and learning. Most of the causes of hearing loss cannot usually be cured but are preventable. Therefore, prevention and early intervention for hearing loss could prevent this disability. Identification of children who might have hearing loss is the first important step for early intervention. This can be done by those who have contact with young children such as doctors, nurses, parents, relatives and healthcare personnel. Village health volunteers who work in the villages are the frontline personnel. An evaluation of their knowledge on four categories, i.e. risk factors for hearing loss, causes of hearing loss, earliest age at which hearing tests can be performed and whom to refer for appropriate management was carried out by a self-completed questionnaire. Ninety-two public health workers were included in the study. Their average correct answers score on the questionnaire about risk factors, causes, earliest age for hearing tests and whom to refer were 53%, 58%, 45% and 52% respectively. There was no significant correlation between their work experience and their knowledge of these subjects. This study demonstrated that the village health volunteers do not have much knowledge about childhood hearing loss. Improving their knowledge about these subjects might result in greater success in prevention of hearing disability.