Hearing loss in urban South African school children (grade 1 to 3).

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe the prevalence and characteristics of hearing loss in school-aged children in an urban South African population.

METHOD: Children from grade one to three from five schools in the Gauteng Province of South Africa formed a representative sample for this study. All children underwent otoscopic examinations, tympanometry and pure tone screening (25dB HL at 1, 2 and 4kHz). Children who failed the screening test and 5% of those who passed the screening test underwent diagnostic audiometry.

RESULTS: A total of 1070 children were screened. Otoscopic examinations revealed that a total of 6.6% ears had cerumen and 7.5% of ears presented with a type-B tympanogram. 24 children (12 male, 12 female) were diagnosed with hearing loss. The overall prevalence of hearing loss was 2.2% with Caucasian children being 2.9 times more (95% confidence interval, 1.2-6.9) likely to have a hearing loss than African children.

CONCLUSION: Hearing loss prevalence in urban South African school-aged children suggest that many children (2.2%) are in need of some form of follow-up services, most for medical intervention (1.2%) with a smaller population requiring audiological intervention (0.4%).