title: Hearing loss in urban South African school children (grade 1 to 3).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to describe the prevalence and characteristics of hearing loss in school-aged children in an urban South African population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children from grade one to three from five schools in the Gauteng Province of South Africa formed a representative sample for this study. All children underwent otoscopic examinations, tympanometry and pure tone screening (25dB HL at 1, 2 and 4kHz). Children who failed the screening test and 5% of those who passed the screening test underwent diagnostic audiometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1070 children were screened. Otoscopic examinations revealed that a total of 6.6% ears had cerumen and 7.5% of ears presented with a type-B tympanogram. 24 children (12 male, 12 female) were diagnosed with hearing loss. The overall prevalence of hearing loss was 2.2% with Caucasian children being 2.9 times more (95% confidence interval, 1.2-6.9) likely to have a hearing loss than African children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hearing loss prevalence in urban South African school-aged children suggest that many children (2.2%) are in need of some form of follow-up services, most for medical intervention (1.2%) with a smaller population requiring audiological intervention (0.4%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. Electronic address: faheema.mahomed@up.ac.za.
authors.forename: Faheema
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mahomed-Asmail
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa; Ear Science Institute Australia, Suite 1, Level 2, 1 Salvado Rd., Subiaco 6008, WA, Australia; Ear Sciences Centre, School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia. Electronic address: dewet.swanepoel@up.ac.za.
authors.forename: De Wet
authors.initials: de W
authors.lastname: Swanepoel
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa; Ear Science Institute Australia, Suite 1, Level 2, 1 Salvado Rd., Subiaco 6008, WA, Australia; Ear Sciences Centre, School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia. Electronic address: rob.eikelboom@earscience.org.au.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Eikelboom
mesh_terms: D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D001299:Audiometry; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D038781:Otoscopy; D015995:Prevalence; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Developing countries; Hearing loss; Prevalence; School screening; South Africa