Screening children for hearing impairment : (some recommendations for the Maltese Islands)

Abstract

TIWs paper describes why screening for hearing impairmenu should be considered important

and part of today's routine child health surveil- lance. Discussions as to when and how screening is to be carried out are included. In the

absence of 11 National• screening service for hearing impairments in Malta and Gozo. the author outlines some recommendations which could be C0'1,Sidered when planning such a service for the Maltese population. Bilateral Sensorl-neural hearing loss (SNHL)

occurs In between 1-2 births per 1.000. The incidence Is higher In babies admitted to special

care units. Conductive Hearing loss is extremely common. Fry ( 1970) reported that twenty-five per cent I 25 % ) of children In Britain suffer from an attack of otitis media at some stage and may have a residual (often fluctuating) loss that persists long enough to cause difficulties. Northern and Down:>( 1975) reported that at the

age of two years one In every twenty-five children wilt have a mild to moderate hearing loss

from ear disease. It Is therefore possible that at least one child In every reception class in Britain could be educationally at risk because of slight degrees of hearing loss. While no research

in this field has been done In Malta, it 11 estimated that the figures will be similar to those

quoted above. Several other countries have carried out research in that area and results obtained were very similar to those obtained in Britain