Etiology of deafness in Robarts School for the Deaf

A survey of the children at the Robarts School for the Deaf was performed in order to determine the etiology of hearing loss, the reading ability as related to the degree of hearing loss, and the incidence of middle ear disease. The largest category for etiology was idiopathic at 31%, followed by hereditary at 22.5%, and maternal rubella at 19%. The incidence of serous otitis media was found to be 11%.