Laryngeal pathology in hearing-impaired children

Eighty-five children enrolled in a total communication elementary school for the severe-to-profoundly hearing-impaired were evaluated prospectively to assess the incidence of laryngeal abnormalities. Direct flexible laryngoscopy and indirect mirror laryngoscopy revealed vocal cord nodules in 3 children, omega-shape infantile epiglottis in 3 children, and normal larynges in the remaining 79 children. These findings suggest that severe-to-profoundly hearing-impaired children develop detectable laryngeal pathology at approximately the same frequency as previously reported by others for normal hearing children.