title: Hearing screening practices among a national sample of primary care pediatricians.
abstract: The objective of this study was to describe variations in hearing screening using a survey mailed to a national sample of primary care pediatricians prior to the 2003 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) hearing screening guidelines. Of the 390 primary care respondents, only 303 (78%) performed audiometry, routinely beginning at age 3 (32%), 4 (44%), or 5 (17%); 81% defined abnormal audiometry primarily as failure to hear at a specified decibel level: 15 dB hearing level (HL) (<1%), 16 to 20 dB HL (10%), 21 to 25 dB HL (23%), 26 to 30 dB HL (44%), 31 to 40 dB HL (16%), and more than 40 dB HL (6%). This study serves as a baseline for comparison with postguideline practices.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham 35233, USA.
authors.forename: Terry C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Senicz
authors.forename: H Hughes
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Audie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Woolley
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hardin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001299:Audiometry / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008403:Mass Screening; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D010372:Pediatrics; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care; D014481:United States