title: Hearing impairment and otitis media in a rural primary school in south India.
abstract: In order to determine the prevalence of hearing impairment and otitis media in rural primary school children, a pilot study of 284 children aged 6-10 years was performed. These children were screened by otoscopy, pure tone audiometry and tympanometry. The overall prevalence of otological abnormalities (excluding wax) was 21.5%. Hearing impairment was detected in 34 children (11.9%). Conductive hearing impairment was predominant (10.9%). Otitis media was diagnosed in 17.6% of children. While 91.2% of children with hearing impairment had associated middle ear disease, only 53.4% of those with middle ear disease were detected as have hearing impairment. The importance of including tympanometry as part of the screening protocol is highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rupa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Job
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joseph
mesh_terms: D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010035:Otitis Media, Suppurative / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students