The prevalence of middle ear pathologies in Jerusalem school children

In the years 1984-85, 2,664 Jerusalem school children aged between 8 and 13 years were checked for middle ear pathologies. This pilot study was part of a preventive medicine project that was also on the alert for cases where hearing problems had led to academic underachievement. The children were checked at school by an otolaryngologist using a pneumatic otoscope. 1.5% of them suffered from secretory otitis media, 3% from attic retractions, 0.3% from chronic otitis media, and 0.07% from cholesteatoma. The total number of children who had middle ear pathologies was 132 (4.95%). In a parallel group of 2,486 children checked by the routine pass/fail portable audiometry test performed by a nurse, only 1% were found to have middle ear pathologies. According to these middle ear findings, we concluded that the vast majority of the pathologies can be detected by a simple tympanometry and we recommend routine audiometric and tympanometric examinations for school children in grades A and B, and a repeated tympanometry at age 10 years.