A comparison of screening methods in school-aged children

We sought to compare the findings of 3 different hearing screening methods in school-aged children.

Prospective testing of second- and third-grade students in their schools was carried out.

Three hundred children (599 ears) were screened by using 3 test modalities, pure-tone audiometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), and tympanometry.

All of the tests were normal in 532 ears (89%), and all were abnormal in 12 ears (2%). Tympanometry yielded the most abnormalities (8.3%), and pure-tone testing demonstrated the fewest (3.3%), with a positive rate of 6.3% for DPOAE testing. False-positive rates were 1.2%, 4.2%, and 6.4% for pure tones, DPOAE, and tympanometry, respectively, when normal results on pure-tones or DPOAE were taken to represent true hearing.

We continue to recommend pure-tone testing as an effective screening method, with follow-up by using otoacoustic emissions in those who fail the pure-tone test.