Children with chronic non-progressive encephalopathy: hearing evaluation and hearing aids
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Published on: October 11, 2024
Cilmara Cristina Alves da Costa Levy1, Sergio Rosemberg
1Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo. cilmaralevy@uol.com.br
Insights
Over half of children with non-progressive chronic encephalopathy (NPCE) have hearing loss, and it cannot be predicted by parental complaints. Hearing aids significantly benefit these children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Audiology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Background:
- Non-progressive chronic encephalopathy (NPCE) can impact various child developmental aspects.
- Auditory function assessment is crucial for children with NPCE, regardless of suspected hearing loss or encephalopathy cause.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate auditory abilities in children with NPCE.
- To determine the effectiveness of hearing aids for children with NPCE and hearing loss.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive neurologic, otorhinolaryngologic, and auditory assessments were performed.
- The Parent's Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH) protocol was utilized.
Main Results:
- 48% of 46 children had no hearing loss; 52% had sensorineural hearing loss.
- Parental suspicion of hearing loss was confirmed in 56% of cases; 50% of children with no parental complaints also had hearing loss.
- The PEACH protocol effectively assessed hearing aid benefits.
Conclusions:
- More than half of children with NPCE exhibit hearing loss.
- Encephalopathy etiology does not correlate with hearing loss complaints, making prediction unreliable.
- All children with hearing loss in the study benefited from hearing aid use.
Aim:
to assess the auditory abilities of children with non-progressive chronic encephalopathy (NPCE), independently of the presence or not of hearing loss, and of the etiology of the encephalopathy; to characterize the benefit of hearing aids in children with NPCE and hearing loss.
Method:
neurologic, otorhinolaryngologic and auditory assessments. Application of the Parent's Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH) protocol.
Results:
out of the 46 assessed children, 22 (48%) presented no hearing loss and 24 (52%) presented some level of sensorineural hearing loss. Regarding the encephalopathy etiology, most of the participants presented ischemic hypoxic encephalopathy followed by infectious process and kernicterus. The results also indicate that 16 (35%) parents suspected that their child had hearing loss; out of this total, 56% had the hearing loss confirmed. Thirty parents (65%) did not have any hearing complaints about their children. For these children the auditory evaluation indicated that 50% presented some level of hearing loss. The PEACH protocol proved to be effective to assess the benefit of hearing aids.
Conclusion:
the results indicate that over half of participants presented hearing loss. No correlation was observed between etiology and complaints of hearing loss. This means that it is not possible to predict hearing loss based on complaints. All children who presented hearing loss benefited from the use of hearing aids.
