Assessment of deafmute patients: a study of ten years

Present prospective study was conducted on 350 patients presenting with chief complaints of impaired hearing and delayed speech from 1996-2006. The aim of the present study was to find out the prevalence of deafmutism in our area, the aetiology of childhood deafness and to ascertain the role of acoustic reflex test (ART) for hearing screening considering brain stem evoked response audiometry (BSERA) as gold standard. A detailed history, clinical and other relevant systemic examination and investigations were done to find out the cause. All patients were subjected to ART test and BSERA. Male to female ratio was 2.1:1. Prevalence was found to be 5.59 per one lac population in our district. The commonest age of presentation was in the second decade. The causes for childhood deafness were genetic (15.8%), embryopathies (10%), perinatal (10.8%) and postnatal problems (12.5%). In 50.6% cases it was aediopathic. Congenital syndromic abnormalities were found in 5.4% patients. In BSERA 21% patients were found to have residual hearing varying from 60 dB to 100dB. The positive predictive value of ART was found to be low (10.4%). Hence it was recommended that ART should not be used as screening tool for childhood deafness.