Pilot Studies of Auditory Screening at the Three-year-old-children Health Examinations in Tokyo

Abstract

Since October 1, 1990, when the Ministry of Welfare issued circular notes with regard to introducing auditory screening into the three-year-old-children health examinations at public health centers, many attempts have been made to establish a screening system throughout Japan. In Tokyo, we developed our own method for auditory screening including a questionnaire as well as an auditory test using six whispered words and a test for screening unilateral deafness using rubbing noises produced by index finger and thumb.
For this purpose pilot studies were conducted twice during July, 1990 and March, 1991, in cooperation with several public health centers. Prior to the three-year-old-children health examinations at the public health centers, a questionnaire consisting of 19 items regarding past history and auditory behaviors in a daily life and letters explaining how to test hearing of a child at home using the above-mentioned auditory tests were sent to 618 parents having a three-year-old child. Otolaryngological examinations as well as tympanometry were performed in 613 out of the 618 children, and 42 of the 613 children were referred to special clinics for hearing-impaired children to receive further examinations. As a result of this study, a case with delayed development of speech due to hearing loss, three with unilateral hearing loss and 12 with serous otitis media were found. In addition, a statistical analysis of the obtained data made it possible to reduce the 19 items of the questionnaire to five. Following this pilot study the revised questionnaire and the letters explaining the auditory tests performed at home were sent to 928 parents who had a three-year-old child, and 781 answers were collected. These answers were classified according to criteria, and 26 cases were selected for further examinations. Eight of the 26 children were found to have a hearing loss caused by serous otitis media.