Early diagnosis and treatment of unilateral or asymmetrical hearing loss in children: CODEPEH recommendations

Keypoints to Successful Newborn Hearing Screening. Thirty Years of Experience and Innovations

Congenital deafness is a major pediatric problem, affecting about 1.5-3 per 1000 newborns. The early treatment through cochlear implantation and auditory rehabilitation has been a historic milestone. Early diagnosis of congenital deafness is an essential requirement to obtain the best results, which is achieved through neonatal screening, a diagnostic practice that we began systematically at the Hospital Clínico in Valencia (Spain) 30 years ago. Neonatal hearing screening is successful in most developed countries. Its implementation has been slow due to the multiple difficulties that its universal application entails since it involves several health professionals and must be carried out, in a short time interval after birth. In addition, it must have a good performance that prevents the overload of other services and that requires experience and continuous adjustments in search of proper protocols. The aim of this review is to shed some light on some key points of neonatal hearing screening, highlighting our experience in the solutions to common problems. We will discuss about techniques, protocols and neonatal or nutritional factors that can influence the screening results. To a summary of our work, an update on the subject is provided with the intention of sharing experiences and facilitating the start-up of the new units.

Pathological and clinical profile of hearing loss among Sudanese children attending the Khartoum Teaching Hospital

Background

Hearing loss is a common disability affecting nearly 360 million people in the world and 75% of cases live in developing countries. Many children are vulnerable to diseases causing hearing loss that often go untreated. The aim of this study is to identify the possible etiological factors and clinical presentations of children who presented with hearing loss at the Khartoum Teaching Hospital.

Materials and Methods

a descriptive, cross-sectional hospital-based study. A total of 100 (response rate of 94%) children aged 5-15 who presented with hearing loss at Khartoum Teaching Hospital were included in this study. A detailed structured, pretested, and pre-coded questionnaire was used. After data collection, hearing examination was performed by an E.N.T specialist, then audiometry performed to diagnose hearing loss and for classification of the hearing loss type. Discriptive Statisistics frequencies and cross-tabulation were done. A Chi-square test was used for proportions. A P value of less than 0.05 considered significant.

Results

Out of 100 patients, 68 patients (68%) belonged to the 5-10 years age group. The mean age was 8.5 years. The male to female ratio was 1.00-1.13. Conductive hearing loss was found in 66% of the studied group, sensory-neural hearing loss in 23% and the mixed type in 11%. Regarding the etiology, otitis media was found in 41 of patients (41%), congenital hearing loss in 22% (22 patients), traumatic hearing loss in 4%, sickle cell anemia in 2%, mumps in 14%, diabetes mellitus in 3%, and measles in 8% of the patients. In conclusion, a number of preventable causes were shown to contribute significantly to the etiology of hearing loss.

Conclusion

The commonest factors associated with hearing loss among participants were otitis media and hereditary causes, respectively. Further community-based studies of hearing-impaired children are necessary for planning effective preventive and curative programs.