Prevalence of Hearing Loss in Babies Referred to Audiology Clinic of Al-Mawasat Hospital

Abstract

Background and Aim: Hearing loss (HL) significantly affects the development of speech, language and social relations, especially when it occurs before the stage of speech recognition, i.e. in childhood. Some children born with a hearing impairment (HI) have risk factors for hearing loss, while others do not have any. Nevertheless, it is not easily noticed.

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of hearing loss in babies with hearing loss or lack of language development according to parent complaint and to find the contribution of each of the known risk factors to the occurrence of hearing loss at audiology clinic of Al-Mawasat Hospital-Syria.

Methods: This cross-sectional and retrospective Clinical study was conducted in the audiology clinic at Al-Mouwasat University Hospital- Syria. Babies with Hearing loss complaint or lack of language development underwent a two-step protocol using Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) and Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR). Babies 1-18 months old who referred in OAE completed a diagnostic test using (ABR).

Result: Out of the 520 babies  , 83 (15.96 %) babies  1 to 18 months old were diagnosed with hearing loss. 64(77.1%) of which had sensory neural hearing loss (SNHL) more than 30 dB. 67.2% of them had high risk factors for HL. 34.4% of which had positive History of hereditary childhood hearing impairment.

Conclusion: The prevalence of HL in babies Referred to audiology clinic was 15.96% and profound SNHL was the commonest degree of HL. There was an increased risk of hearing loss in those with history of hereditary hearing loss problem. These findings confirm the necessity of early detection and intervention of hearing loss especially those they have hereditary hearing loss problem.