2024 Volume 45 Issue 1 Pages 33-37
Unilateral hearing loss in children used to be diagnosed for the first time in many cases during medical examinations, but newborn hearing screening (NHS) has made it possible to diagnose hearing loss at an early stage. NHS also contributes to the diagnosis of congenital hearing loss.
In this study, 41 children with unilateral hearing loss were surveyed regarding age at first visit, reason for hearing loss, degree and cause of hearing loss, and the involvement of NHS in diagnose. Three-quarters of all the children were first diagnosed within 3 months of birth, and most of them were diagnosed by NHS. 83% of all the children were diagnosed by NHS.
Congenital malformations of the inner, middle or external ear were the cause of hearing loss in 73% of all, and 85% of all cases were congenital hearing loss. This 12% of this difference was thought to be due to the ability of the NHS to diagnose congenital hearing loss. Cochlear canal stenosis was the most common congenital malformation. More than half of the children have unilateral severe hearing loss, and it was thought that confirmation of congenital cytomegalovirus infection (CCMVI) and precise examination of inner ear malformations would be useful in searching for the cause of unilateral sever hearing loss.
