Mild, moderate and moderately severe hearing impairments in children

Abstract

We studied 53 children with mild, moderate or moderately severe hearing impairments who visited the National Mie Hospital. The following results were obtained. 1) Seven children had syndromic hearing impairments, 44 had nonsyndromic hearing impairments, and two children had a high-risk of hearing impairment. 2) Patient age ranged from one month to fifteen years old (mean, five years and six months), and their average hearing ranged from 25.0dBHL to 69.9dBHL. Two peaks in patient age were detected: one at under 6 months of age, and the other at 6 years of age. 3) Four of the seven infants whose hearing impairments were detected before the age of 6 months were identified during newborn hearing examinations. 4) Thirty-one infants or children were fitted with hearing aids. Hearing aid use and the amount of time that the hearing aids were used for were related to the hearing levels of the patients. 5) Seven children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of more than 40dB without the use of hearing aids were diagnosed at an age of 4 years or older, and five of these patients exhibited language problems. Recently, it has become possible to detect hearing impairments in children at an earlier age, subsequent guidance and intervention by specialists are needed.