On criteria for hearing impairment in children

As objective criteria concerning hearing impairment/disability may be poorly related to the behavioral patterns of children with hearing deficits, the present investigation was performed. A consecutive series of 172 children, who were examined for the first time at the Audiological Department, was subdivided according to age into two groups: one comprising 98 children at an age from 49 to 84 months, the other comprising 74 children greater than 84 months of age. This second group is supposed to complain of hearing problems if present, and thus constitutes a reference group. Using the criterion for hearing impairment: BEHL 0.5-4 kHz greater than 20 dB HL, the data demonstrated that the frequency of correct and false positive suspicion (detection) of a hearing impairment is similar in parents and professionals with an observer sensitivity of 88%. In addition the frequency of suspicion in parents and professionals in relation to degree of hearing loss corresponds to the frequency of hearing problems, as experienced in the reference group of older children. A certain discrepancy exists between the applied criterion of BEHL 0.5-4 kHz greater than 20 dB and the hearing level resulting in deviating behavioral pattern or experienced hearing deficit in children. This may be ascribed to the predominantly conductive hearing loss in the examined sample. It is concluded that additional investigations on criteria for hearing impairment/disability, including also children with sensorineural hearing loss should be undertaken.