Tympanometric screening in elementary school children

The revised ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association, 1990) hearing screening guidelines were developed to decrease over-referrals for middle ear disorders through amended tympanometric measurements. These guidelines also recommended a large-scale normative study be done with tympanometric measures to further reduce the over-referral rate. Seven hundred and fifty ears from 392 kindergarten through third-grade children were tested. Normative values of Peak Ytm and tympanometric width were calculated by grade. For increasing grade level, there was an orderly increase in the mean Peak Ytm and a decrease in the mean tympanometric width. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated at 65 and 80% respectively, with a prevalence of 11%. Suggestions for improving sensitivity and specificity are discussed.