RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To know the etiology of preiperlingual bilateral hearing loss in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All the patients diagnosed with bilateral severe/profound, pre or perilingual hearing loss at Sierrallana and Marqués de Valdecilla Hospitals (Cantabria, Spain) during the last 20 years were included in this study. RESULTS: A hundred patients were diagnosed with bilateral severe/profound pre/perilingual hearing loss. The most frequent etiology was hereditary (49%), followed by severe perinatal hypoxia (11%), ototoxicity (5%), meningitis (3%), hyperbilirubinemia (3%) and rubella (2%). In 21% of cases was not known. CONCLUSIONS: The two most frequent etiologies found in severe/profound hearing loss in children in our area were hereditary and non infectious perinatal problems. Infectious disease were scarce. Will decrease when genetic test were used as clinical basis.
