Medicina Comunitária e Educação em Saúde

Abstrato

Characteristics and Etiology of Hearing Loss among the School for the Deaf Children in Ife-Ijesha Senatorial District of Osun State, Nigeria

Amusa Yemisi Bola, Adegbenro Caleb A, Ogunniyi GM and Olarinoye TO

Background: In developing countries, the awareness about hearing impairment is low. This has led to unavailability of early screening program.
Objective: To document the conditions associated with the auditory functions in children at schools for the deaf in a senatorial district of Osun state.
Design: A cross-sectional descriptive epidemiological survey. One hundred children who were attending the six special schools were studied. Medical histories were obtained through questionnaire. Otoscopy was done on all subjects and pure tone audiometry test was carried out on the children above 4 years.
Result: The mean age of detection of hearing loss was 19 months while the age at which they seek help was 24 months. There was a male preponderance and the children were admitted to the schools at 5 years. Maternal ailment occurred in 22% of the deaf children. Birth asphyxia and neonatal jaundice occurred in 19% and 15% respectively. Measles was associated with hearing loss in 39%. Impacted wax was the most common otoscopic finding. Moderately severe hearing loss occurred in 8% of the population, 28% had severe hearing loss while 64% was profoundly deaf. There was lack of access to hearing aids in over 90%. There were no adequate classrooms and teachers nor facilities for proper habilitation. 30% of the children had other handicaps.
Conclusion: The conditions associated with hearing loss in this study were largely preventable through improved obstetric care and childhood immunization programme. Early auditory screening is essential and a better habilitation programme needs to be developed for the Nigerian deaf children.