Mass hearing screening in kindergarten students

Access to Ear and Hearing Care Globally: A Survey of Stakeholder Perceptions from the Lancet Commission on Global Hearing Loss

OBJECTIVE

Characterize global access to ear and hearing care (EHC) to inform future policy recommendations.

STUDY DESIGN

Survey using convenience sampling.

SETTING

Subjects were surveyed via contact lists of the World Health Organization, Global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Initiative, and Global HEAR Collaborative.

PARTICIPANTS

Otolaryngologists, audiologists, other health care professionals, adults with hearing loss, parents/caregivers of children with hearing loss, and policymakers.

INTERVENTION

None.

MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES

Responses to questions regarding EHC screening programs, workforce, supports, access to care, and government priority by World Bank income group.

RESULTS

There were 125 included survey responses from EHC stakeholders representing 59 countries: 71% from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and 29% from high-income countries (HICs). Compared with respondents from LMICs, those from HICs more frequently indicated that their country had adequate numbers of ENTs, audiologists, SLPs, and EHC community health workers. This trend was consistent across questions regarding number of training programs for EHC workforce, presence of hearing screening programs, cost of hearing aids and cochlear implants, availability of EHC supports and services, affordability of EHC, government funding or investment, and inclusion of EHC in national health strategy.

CONCLUSION

Globally, EHC is limited by systems-level barriers that disproportionately affect LMICs. Urgent policy development and intervention is needed to eliminate these barriers and improve EHC around the world.

A systematic review of the prevalence of late identified hearing loss in childhood

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this systematic review was to assess the evidence about the prevalence of permanent hearing loss for children not identified from newborn hearing screening (NHS).

DESIGN

Articles were grouped into three categories based on the methodological approach: (1) all participants received diagnostic testing, (2) otoacoustic emission (OAE) or pure tone screening was completed and those not passing were referred for a diagnostic test, and (3) data were retrieved from archival records. Study characteristics, prevalence, and contextual factors were synthesised and narratively described.

STUDY SAMPLE

30 peer-reviewed articles.

RESULTS

Prevalence of permanent hearing loss per 1,000 children ranged from 0.32 to 77.87 (M = 7.30; SD = 16.87). Variations in the criteria for inclusion contributed to prevalence differences. Prevalence was higher when unilateral and milder degrees of hearing loss were included, and older children had higher prevalence (M = 13.71; SD = 23.21) than younger children (M = 1.57; SD = 0.86).

CONCLUSION

There is scant research on prevalence of childhood hearing loss after NHS that utilised methods to accurately differentiate between permanent and temporary hearing loss. Rigorous research is needed on the prevalence of permanent childhood hearing loss to inform strategies for monitoring, identification, intervention, and management.

Outcomes of an Early Childhood Hearing Screening Program in a Low-Income Setting

IMPORTANCE

Early identification of childhood hearing loss through newborn hearing screening mitigates permanent speech, language, and developmental delays, but many children are lost to follow-up or develop postnatal hearing loss. Early childhood hearing screening programs may help identify these children, but evidence on their outcomes is limited.

OBJECTIVE

To assess outcomes from a low-income, preschool-based hearing screening program and risk factors for hearing loss in this population.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

A retrospective cohort study of 6820 children aged 2 to 6 years from urban, low-income public preschools who received hearing screening from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2019, was performed using San Francisco Department of Public Health records. A multivariate logistic regression analyzed risk factors for hearing loss. Data analysis was conducted from January 14, 2020, to April 20, 2021.

EXPOSURES

Annual single-visit, 2-tiered screening was implemented with conditioned play pure-tone audiometry (CPA) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (OAEs).

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Rates of successful screening, referred screening, loss to follow-up, and hearing loss.

RESULTS

Of 6820 children (age, 2-6 years) screened, 3425 (50.2%) were boys, 15% were White/non-Hispanic, and 48% had English as the primary home language. A total of 403 (5.9%) children were referred for full medical or audiologic evaluation after 2-tiered CPA/OAE screening. Only 24 children were unable to complete both CPA and OAE testing for a screening completion rate of 99.6%. After medical evaluation, 114 of 403 children (28.3%) passed hearing rescreening and 55 (13.6%) were lost to follow-up. The prevalence of conductive hearing loss was 2.9% (n = 195), and the prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss was 0.2% (n = 13). Primary language, race and ethnicity, and sex were not associated with rates of referral or hearing loss.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The findings of this cohort study suggest that preschool-based screening programs can be a useful method to identify early childhood hearing loss and that teacher concerns are associated with final diagnostic hearing status.

How the World's Children Hear: A Narrative Review of School Hearing Screening Programs Globally

Objective

School hearing screening may mitigate the effects of childhood hearing loss through early identification and intervention. This study provides an overview of existing school hearing screening programs around the world, identifies gaps in the literature, and develops priorities for future research.

Data Sources

A structured search of the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases.

Review Methods

A total of 65 articles were included according to predefined inclusion criteria. Parameters of interest included age groups screened, audiometric protocols, referral criteria, use of adjunct screening tests, rescreening procedures, hearing loss prevalence, screening test sensitivity and specificity, and loss to follow-up.

Conclusions

School hearing screening is mandated in few regions worldwide, and there is little accountability regarding whether testing is performed. Screening protocols differ in terms of screening tests included and thresholds used. The most common protocols included a mix of pure tone screening (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz), otoscopy, and tympanometry. Estimates of region-specific disease prevalence were methodologically inaccurate, and rescreening was poorly addressed. Loss to follow-up was also a ubiquitous concern.

Implications for Practice

There is an urgent need for standardized school hearing screening protocol guidelines globally, which will facilitate more accurate studies of hearing loss prevalence and determination of screening test sensitivity and specificity. In turn, these steps will increase the robustness with which we can study the effects of screening and treatment interventions, and they will support the development of guidelines on the screening, diagnostic, and rehabilitation services needed to reduce the impact of childhood hearing loss.

A Novel Tablet-Based Approach for Hearing Screening of the Pediatric Population, 516-Patient Study

OBJECTIVE

Assess a tablet hearing game as a screening instrument for pediatric hearing loss.

METHODS

All children age 3 to 13 presenting to the ENT clinic of a tertiary hospital clinic over a 3-month period were eligible for study. Five hundred sixteen were entered by completing the tablet screen with calibrated tablet/headphones. All had full standard audiometry or otoacoustic emission testing to assess hearing status. Tablet game data was analyzed to find the best correlation to the air conduction audiogram. The appropriate pass threshold of the tablet game was established and the statistical accuracy of the tablet game versus the air conduction audio was assessed.

RESULTS

The overall rate of hearing loss was 29.7% (153 subjects). Conductive hearing loss predominated and was present in 128 children. The tablet game pure tone average from 500- 4000 Hz correlated best with the air conduction audiogram, and was most predictive of hearing loss. Setting the pass level at 20 dB for the tablet screen prioritized detection of hearing loss, yielding a sensitivity of 91% and corresponding specificity of 73.5% for ages 4 and older. Specificity progressively improved with increasing age and was over 90% for all ages 7 and older.

CONCLUSION

Tablet game audiometry as a screening tool performs well in a controlled setting. Based on these results, it can be considered as a reliable screening method for school-age children and to monitor resolution of otitis media.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

4, case series Laryngoscope, 130:2245-2251, 2020.

A Mobile Phone-Based Approach for Hearing Screening of School-Age Children: Cross-Sectional Validation Study

Background

Pure-tone screening (PTS) is considered as the gold standard for hearing screening programs in school-age children. Mobile devices, such as mobile phones, have the potential for audiometric testing.

Objective

This study aimed to demonstrate a new approach to rapidly screen hearing status and provide stratified test values, using a smartphone-based hearing screening app, for each screened ear of school-age children.

Method

This was a prospective cohort study design. The proposed smartphone-based screening method and a standard sound-treated booth with PTS were used to assess 85 school-age children (170 ears). Sound-treated PTS involved applying 4 test tones to each tested ear: 500 Hz at 25 dB and 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, and 4000 Hz at 20 dB. The results were classified as pass (normal hearing in the ear) or fail (possible hearing impairment). The proposed smartphone-based screening employs 20 stratified hearing scales. Thresholds were compared with those of pure-tone average (PTA).

Results

A total of 85 subjects (170 ears), including 38 males and 47 females, aged between 11 and 12 years with a mean (SD) of 11 (0.5) years, participated in the trial. Both screening methods produced comparable pass and fail results (pass in 168 ears and fail in 2 ears). The smartphone-based screening detected moderate or worse hearing loss (average PTA>25 dB) accurately. Both the sensitivity and specificity of the smartphone-based screening method were calculated at 100%.

Conclusions

The results of the proposed smartphone-based self-hearing test demonstrated high concordance with conventional PTS in a sound-treated booth. Our results suggested the potential use of the proposed smartphone-based hearing screening in a school-age population.

Accuracy of school screenings in the identification of minimal sensorineural hearing loss

PURPOSE

The goal of this study was to investigate how the use of a 25 dB HL referral criterion in school screenings affects the identification of hearing loss categorized as minimal sensorineural hearing loss (MSHL).

METHOD

A retrospective study applied screening levels of 20 and 25 dB HL at 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz in each ear to previously obtained pure-tone thresholds for 1,475 school-age children. In a separate prospective study, 1,704 children were screened at school under typical conditions, and a subsample had complete audiological evaluations. Referral rates, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated for each screening level.

RESULTS

Referral rates varied by grade and criterion level, with comparable results between the two data sets. In both studies, when the screening level increased, the sensitivity to MSHL declined markedly, whereas specificity increased in the prospective study.

CONCLUSIONS

Screening at 25 dB yields poor sensitivity to MSHL. Converging evidence from these diverse populations supports using the 20 dB level to help identify MSHL. Multistage screening is recommended to limit referral rates. Even at 20 dB HL, cases of MSHL may be missed. Audiologists should encourage parents, educators, and speech–language pathologists to refer children suspected of hearing difficulty for complete audiological evaluations even if they pass school screenings.

Hearing screening for school children: utility of noise-cancelling headphones

BACKGROUND

Excessive ambient noise in school settings is a major concern for school hearing screening as it typically masks pure tone test stimuli (particularly 500 Hz and below). This results in false positive findings and subsequent unnecessary follow-up. With advances in technology, noise-cancelling headphones have been developed that reduce low frequency noise by superimposing an anti-phase signal onto the primary noise. This research study examined the utility of noise-cancelling headphone technology in a school hearing screening environment.

METHODS

The present study compared the audiometric screening results obtained from two air-conduction transducers-Sennheiser PXC450 noise-cancelling circumaural headphones (NC headphones) and conventional TDH-39 supra-aural earphones. Pure-tone hearing screening results (500 Hz to 4000 Hz, at 30 dB HL and 25 dB HL) were obtained from 232 school children, aged 6 to 8 years, in four Hong Kong primary schools.

RESULTS

Screening outcomes revealed significant differences in referral rates between TDH-39 earphones and NC headphones for both 30 dB HL and 25 dB HL criteria, regardless of the inclusion or exclusion of 500 Hz results. The kappa observed agreement (OA) showed that at both screening intensities, the transducers' referral agreement value for the 500 Hz inclusion group was smaller than for the 500 Hz exclusion group. Individual frequency analysis showed that the two transducers screened similarly at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz at 25 dB HL, as well as at both 30 dB HL and 25 dB HL screening levels for 4000 Hz. Statistically significant differences were found for 500 Hz at 30 dB HL and at 25 dB HL, and for 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz at 30 dB HL. OA for individual frequencies showed weaker intra-frequency agreement between the two transducers at 500 Hz at both intensity criterion levels than at higher frequencies.

CONCLUSIONS

NC headphones screening results differed from those obtained from TDH-39 earphones, with lower referral rates at 500 Hz, particularly at the 25 dB HL criterion level. Therefore, NC headphones may be able to operate at lower screening intensities and subsequently increase pure-tone screening test sensitivity, without compromising specificity. NC headphones show some promise as possible replacements for conventional earphones in school hearing screening programs.

An audiometer to monitor progressive hearing change in school-aged children

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to develop a cost-effective and easy to use audiometer to monitor progressive hearing change in school-aged children.

DESIGN

The hardware of the audiometer developed included a computer, an external sound blaster and a headphone. The hearing screening software was developed to control the pure tone sound level with modulability in the range of 0-45 dB HL at 1, 2, 4 and 0.5 kHz frequencies. Thirty sixth-grade children, aged 12-13 years old, were randomly divided into two groups for a hearing test in a conference room. Testing for one group was performed by a person with experience and the other group was examined by a graduate student who was not familiar with the device. After the hearing test, all children were immediately screened using a clinical diagnostic audiometer in a soundproof room by an audiologist.

RESULTS

Most of the threshold dB values obtained by the audiometer in a conference room (55 ears, 93.2%) were significantly greater than those obtained by the clinical audiometer in a soundproof room. Most of the differences between these two measurements were within 5 dB (94.9%). Only 5.1% had a discrepancy within the maximum range of 10 dB. The correlation and intraclass correlation coefficients between the two measurements were 0.861 and 0.929, respectively. The results also indicated that the experience level of the screening personnel did not affect the testing.

CONCLUSION

The newly developed audiometer is quite cost-effective and can be easily operated. The threshold dB values obtained by the audiometer developed in a conference room were comparable with the results of a clinical audiometer in a soundproof room. The audiometer developed could measure the hearing threshold values and, therefore, be useful in monitoring progressive hearing change in school-aged children.

The Hearing Scale Test for hearing screening of school-age children

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to demonstrate a new modified hearing screening method that can rapidly screen hearing and provide stratified test values for each screened ear of children.

METHODS

The proposed Hearing Scale Test (HST) and pure-tone screening (PTS) were applied to 384 school-age children. PTS involved applying four test tones to each tested ear: 500 Hz at 25 dB, and 1000, 2000, 4000 Hz at 20 dB; and classifying the results as "pass" (normal hearing in the ear) or "fail" (possible hearing impairment). The HST employs ten stratified hearing scales from S(1) to S(10), with each hearing scale containing four test tones and where adjacent scales differ from each other by 5 B, ranging from 0 dB (S(1)) to 45 dB (S(10)). The four test tones of hearing scale S(5) are the same hearing criteria and the median reference standard of the stimulus level in the HST. Scales S(1)-S(5) on the HST are equivalent to a PTS "pass" result, while S(6)-S(10) and no response (NR) are equivalent to a PTS "fail" result.

RESULTS

The two screening methods produced comparable "pass" and "fail" results. In the HST, the "pass" results were further stratified as S(1) in 4 ears, S(2) in 52 ears, S(3) in 226 ears, S(4) in 272 ears, and S(5) in 169 ears, while the "fail" results were stratified as S(6) in 23 ears, S(7) in 12 ears, S(8) in 1 ear, S(9) in 2 ears, S(10) in 5 ears, and no response (NR) in 2 ears. The hearing screening results of the HST are interpreted as follows: scales S(1)-S(5) indicate normal hearing, scales S(6) and S(7) indicate possible hearing impairment, and scales S(8)-S(10) and NR indicate confirmed hearing impairment.

CONCLUSIONS

Conventional PTS only gives a pass/fail result for each screened ear, lacks hearing status assessment, and lacks stratified test values to be recorded for follow-up. In contrast, the HST has stratified hearing scales for each screened ear, which reflects the current hearing status and provides test values that can be recorded for follow-up.

Quantitative and Qualitative Follow-Up Outcomes From a Preschool Audiologic Screening Program: Perspectives Over a Decade

Purpose

This investigation reports on quantitative and qualitative follow-up information obtained from a preschool audiologic screening program covering a 10-year period (1995 to 2004).

Method

The audiologic screening consisted of a hearing (pure tone) and tympanometry screening. A total of 34,979 children, 3 to 5 years of age, were screened.

Results

Eighteen percent (6,337) of the children were referred for further hearing and/or medical ear evaluation. Of 1,421 follow-up responses received, 93% complied with the follow-up recommendations while 7% did not. Of 1,316 children in the follow-up group, outer and/or middle ear disorder in one or both ears was medically confirmed for 37%. Unilateral or bilateral hearing loss was diagnosed in 18% as conductive (12%), sensorineural (1%), mixed (0.4%), or unspecified (5%). Overall, hearing loss and/or otologic disorder was confirmed in 49% of the follow-up group, suggesting a prevalence of 1.8% in a preschool-age population. A small ( n = 32) sample of unsolicited comments indicated that physicians most influenced noncompliance with hearing evaluation follow-up.

Conclusions

The quantitative hearing and otologic follow-up outcome data affirm the importance of audiologic screening in the preschool population. Qualitative data suggest that some physicians may not be advocating appropriate screening follow-up services.

Hörscreening an Kindergärten: Ergebnisse einer Evaluierungsstudie

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the hearing screening of pre-school children at nursery schools in Tyrol, Austria.

METHODS AND SAMPLE

47 nursery schools with a total of 2199 enrolled children participated in the study. At the screening, the children were presented a series of tones at frequencies 0.5 kHz (25dB), 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 3 kHz, and 4 kHz (20 dB each) from portable audiometers. The tones were presented over headphones for each ear separately and at irregular intervals. Failure to respond to any of the frequencies was considered failure of the screening. Parents were then advised in written form to have the child examined by an ENT-specialist.

RESULTS

1832 individuals were screened (coverage: 83% of nursery school children; corresponding to at least 63% of all Tyrolean children aged 3 to 5 years). Of these, 390 failed the test (referral rate: 21% of all screened). Examination through an ENT-specialist occurred with 217 children, and this confirmed the positive test in 139 children (hit rate: 64%). In most cases, a temporary conductive hearing loss due to external or middle ear problems (glue ear, tube dysfunction, cerumen, otitis media) was diagnosed. A sensorineural hearing loss was found in 4 children (in 3 of them bilateral). The need for therapy was recognized in 81 children (4% of all screened).

CONCLUSION

Pre-school hearing screening identifies children with ear and hearing problems that need therapeutical intervention. Although the hearing problems are mostly of a temporary nature, some may require monitoring over some period. Also some children with permanent sensorineural hearing loss may be detected through this measure. Hearing screening is an efficient means of assessing ear and hearing problems in pre-school children. However, the follow-up rate needs to be improved for optimizing the efficacy.