• V A Flanary, C J Flanary, J Colombo, and D Kloss.
• Medical College of Wisconsin, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226, USA.
• Int. J. Pediatr. Otorhinolaryngol. 1999 Oct 25;50(2):93-8.

ObjectiveTo determine the types of hearing losses identified by mass hearing screenings in the public school system.DesignProspective observational.ParticipantsStudents enrolled in kindergarten in the public school system.SettingMajor metropolitan area.Main Outcome Measures(1) hearing screening tests performed by speech pathologists using an audiometer in a quiet room; (2) formal audiologic testing including pure tone audiometry, tympanograms, speech discrimination, and acoustic impedance testing in a sound proof booth.Results140 students failed hearing screening on two separate occasions; 91(65%) underwent formal audiologic testing at Milwaukee Public School, 43% demonstrated conductive hearing losses, 14% demonstrated sensorineural losses and 43% demonstrated normal hearing.ConclusionMass hearing screening in the school system (1) is useful for detecting transient conductive hearing losses, (2) detects a significant number of sensorineural hearing losses and (3) has a very poor follow-through by the families of those students identified with hearing loss through the screening program.

18 keywords...

hide…