Hearing evaluation of school children in Kuwait.

Purpose: Hearing level in some children may be abnormal due to conductive or sensorineural causes. In Kuwait, the hearing screening test is not conducted for newborns at public hospitals. We evaluated the hearing level of 159 Kuwaiti school children (age 6-12 years) at the Audiology Clinic of Ahmadi hospital to determine the extent and causes of hearing loss in these children.

Methods: Each child was evaluated by otoscopic examination, tympanogram, acoustic reflex threshold (ART), audiogram, and distortion product oto-acoustic emission (DPOAE).

Results: 120 children were found to have normal ear conditions, while 39 children had abnormal results. The abnormalities were 21 children with ear wax, 16 children with secretory otitis media (SOM), and 2 children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). In the children with ear wax, 3 had normal hearing level, while 18 had mild conductive hearing loss in the 250-500 Hz frequency range. In the children with SOM, 3 had normal hearing level, 9 had mild conductive hearing loss in the 250-500 Hz frequency range, while 4 had moderate conductive hearing loss in the 250-2000 Hz frequency range. The children with SNHL had moderate hearing loss in the 4000-8000 Hz frequency range.

Conclusion: Wax in the ear canal and SOM were the main factors associated with hearing loss in these Kuwaiti school children. It is necessary to establish a national program of school entry hearing screening in Kuwait.