2018 Volume 39 Issue 1 Pages 1-9
Down syndrome is reported to frequently involve comorbid hearing loss. Otitis media with effusion, a frequent comorbidity in children with Down syndrome, causes conductive hearing loss; is often intractable and bilateral requires hearing aids. When there is fluctuating hearing loss, we are often worried in the timing when to begin to wear hearing aids. For seven children aged for whom hearing aids were prescribed at our department, we examined the following items: timing of beginning to wear hearing aids, and the presence/absence and course of otitis media with effusion and linguistic development. Six of the seven children were afflicted with otitis media with effusion during the observation period; thus, conductive hearing loss associated with otitis media with effusion was strongly associated with hearing loss and the wearing conditions of hearing aids in children with Down syndrome. Children who began using a hearing aid at an early stage demonstrated favorable linguistic development. This may be connected to the result that early use of a hearing aid promotes linguistic development in children, whose hearing later improves. Most of otitis media serous were prolonged and repeated a recurrence.
Where there are bilateral otitis media serous that results in hearing loss, it appears that we should not hesitate about the introduction of wearing a hearing aid.
