Prevalence of Hearing Loss among Primary School Children in El-Mahalla El-Kubra District, Egypt

Unit of 1,4Audio-vestibular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, 2Audiovestibular Medicine Specialist. Ministry of Health, 3Public Health and Community, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. ABSTRACT Objectives: Hearing is a critical sense that affects the ability of persons especially children to communicate with others, share their thoughts and opinions, and participate in activities. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, school age children aged 6-12 years old in El-Mahalla El-Kubra district of Egypt were screened for hearing loss. Patients and Methods: Three hundred children were involved in this study from one rural and another urban primary school in El-Mahalla El-Kubra district of Egypt. All children were screened for hearing loss at their schools during the academic year 2017/2018. The positive cases were referred for basic audiological evaluation at El-Mahalla El-Kubra general hospital. All children were submitted to history taking through questionnaire, otoscopic examination, tympanometry and pure tone audiometry. Results: In this study, the prevalence of hearing loss was (9.2%) of the studied children. The most common type of hearing impairment was conductive hearing loss due to Eustachian tube dysfunction (4.7%) and secretory otitis media (3.3%). Conclusion: Recurrent ear infection is the commonest cause of hearing loss in children and hearing evaluation of school children is useful to avoid the impact of permanent hearing loss on scholastic achievements.