Measuring the prevalence of permanent childhood hearing impairment
BMJ 2001; 323 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7312.525 (Published 08 September 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:525All rapid responses
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As a parent of a child with a hearing problem, I would like to know
what is going to be done especially regarding education in mainstream
schools, when they are faced with SATs testing and so on. Do the
goverment not understand that this must be taken into consideration and
give teachers more training when dealing with children with this problem.
I have been told that my child will not listen in class or he fidgets to
much and is easily distracted, but when i have approched them and asked
what they have done, the usuall response is that the child was kept in at
playtime.
I have also tried to find out why after failing a hearing test at 8
months old he was not recalled, only to be told "I dont have the answer to
that question". I have tried to find out if the problem started during
birth when the cord was round my sons neck, and oxygen was needed for 20
minutes, or was it the ear infection at 6 weeks old, but I am very
conceren that my local health authority will not give me any answers.
He is the one who has been called names and other children his age
say he is stupid because he can not read as well as others, and that his
speach was very slow and quite often unable to understand what he was
saying. Or is it the fact that he thinks he is dumb because he kept
falling of his bike and needed stabilizers when others didn't. What does
it take to make, not just the child but teachers and others alike to take
note, of this problem.
I would be intrested to find out more though as to where i can go for
help to get the answers to my questions, as he is now developing other
problems e.g. being able to concentrate for periods of time before getting
restless. He is now 8 years old and has already had a couple of
operations to his eardrums, he is missing out as he has been told he is
not allowed to go swimming, this concerns me a great deal as we live near
water, and no doubt the torment will start again when he is a teenager and
he is unable to swim.
I am now begining to think that the goverment is only concerned with
targets & figures, not about peoples health and state of mind. At the
end of the day not everybody can be perfect but a lot more understanding
and teaching would go a long long way.
P Molyneux
Competing interests: No competing interests
The need for population-based prevalence data on permanent childhood hearing impairment
To the editors
We read with interest the paper by Fortnum et al (1) on the
prevalence of permanent childhood hearing impairment and the accompanying
editorial by Russ(2). Professor Russ stressed the need for adequate
evaluation of new universal newborn hearing screening programmes and the
need for population-based prevalence data.
Since February 2000, a pilot newborn hearing screening programme has
been implemented in Western Australia. Currently all babies born at the
five largest hospitals in Perth, or admitted to the neonatal unit at the
major children’s hospital are offered screening. These babies account for
about 45% of the 25,000 babies born in Western Australia each year.
Western Australia is a very large state geographically, but many services
are centralised. For example, all the state’s level two and three
neonatal nurseries are in hospitals in the Perth metropolitan area and are
included in the pilot programme. However, there are many rural and remote
centres where there are between 20-500 births a year. Because of this,
careful evaluation of the newborn hearing screening programme is needed
before the programme is expanded.
Over the first 17 months of the programme, we have detected a
prevalence of congenital bilateral permanent hearing loss of less than 1
per 1,000. This prevalence rate is in the low range of those reported
elsewhere(3, 4). Thus we have recognised the possibility that either the
prevalence of permanent childhood hearing loss in Western Australia is
truly low, or that babies with a hearing loss are passing the hearing
screen (‘false negatives’). Given that babies with a hearing loss who
pass the screen are likely not to be diagnosed for several years, there is
a need for ongoing surveillance of the whole cohort. In order to obtain
prevalence data and ensure ongoing monitoring, we are currently setting up
a population-based database. This database will contain details of all
Western Australian children, born 1999 and later, who are diagnosed with a
permanent hearing loss by the age of five years. Given the results
reported by Fortnum et al(1), we now may need to consider extending the
database to children diagnosed beyond the age of five years.
We support the need for databases that can ensure ongoing monitoring of
newborn hearing screening programmes as well as providing population-based
prevalence of permanent childhood hearing impairment.
Authors
Helen D Bailey, B Health Sci (Nurs) Hons, MPH, Coordinator, Western
Australian Newborn Hearing Screening Programme,
TVW Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health
Research, The University of Western Australia, PO Box 855 West Perth WA
6872,
Carol Bower, MBBS, PhD, Head, Epidemiology, TVW Telethon Institute
for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, The
University of Western Australia, PO Box 855 West Perth WA 6872,
Kim Gifkins, BSc(Hons), Research assistant, Hearing Loss Prevalence
Programme, TVW Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for
Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, PO Box 855
West Perth WA 6872,
Harvey L Coates, MS, FRACS, Senior ENT surgeon,
Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, PO D184, Perth WA 6001,
We declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Corresponding author:
Helen Bailey,
email helenb@ichr.uwa.edu.au
1. Fortnum HM, Summerfield AQ, Marshall DH, Davis AC, Bamford JM.
Prevalence of permanent childhood hearing impairment in the United Kingdom
and implications for universal neonatal hearing screening: questionnaire
based ascertainment study. Bmj 2001;323(7312):536.
2. Russ S. Measuring the prevalence of permanent childhood hearing
impairment. The introduction of screening makes this important and timely.
Bmj 2001;323(7312):525-6.
3. Fortnum H, Davis A. Epidemiology of permanent
childhood hearing impairment in Trent Region, 1985-1993. Br J Audiol
1997;31(6):409-46.
4. Parving A. Congenital hearing disability--epidemiology and
identification: a comparison between two health authority districts. Int J
Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 1993;27(1):29-46.
Competing interests: No competing interests