Cross-Sectional Study of Hearing Status in Primary Students in Mainstream and Special Schools

Background. The only way to prevent the negative outcomes of hearing loss in children (speech, mental, learning, socialization disorders) is early diagnosis of the pathology and rehabilitation onset. It can be provided by hearing screening programs for children of different ages, including school-age children. Hearing screening is not performed among school-age children in Russian Federation. Objective. The aim is to study the prevalence and structure of hearing disorders in students in mainstream and special (for children with visual impairments) schools to determine the strategy for implementing hearing screening of school-age children in Russian Federation. Methods. The study included children of two groups who had not previously been diagnosed with hearing disorders: group 1 — students of 1–4 grades of mainstream school, group 2 — students of 1–4 grades of special school (children with visual impairments) (St. Petersburg). The screening stage included otoscopy, tympanometry, otoacoustic emissions, pure tone audiometry. Children with any problems later underwent a complex hearing examination at Center of Pediatric Audiology (St Petersburg) to confirm the presence of hearing disorder and for disease differential diagnosis. The major indicator in this study is the percent (%) of children with confirmed hearing disorder in each group. The additional indicator is the proportion of various pathological conditions in hearing disorders’ structure (persistent disorders and hearing loss degree included). Study methods: otoscopy, tympanometry, pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem responses. Results. We have revealed abnormalities in 23% of 183 children from mainstream school. Hearing disorders were confirmed in 19.7% of children. Most children were diagnosed with temporary mild and moderate conductive hearing loss, whereas 3.9% were diagnosed with permanent (sensorineural) hearing loss. The total percent of children with confirmed hearing disorder was not significantly different in 148 children from special school. Therefore, they have 2.5 times more cases of permanent hearing loss and children with more severe hearing disorder. Conclusion. The obtained data confirm the hearing screening relevance in school-age children. Further studies are required to develop hearing screening protocol for school-age children considering the features of audiologic service and educational system in Russian Federation.