Hearing Screening Program in School-Age Children in Western Poland Corresponding address
Piotr Skarzynski, Krzysztof Kochanek, Henryk Skarzynski, Andrzej Senderski, Jarosł Aw Wysocki, Agata Szkielkowska, Grazyna Bartnik, Artur Lorens, Anna Piotrowska, Lech Sliwa, Wiktor Jedrzejczak, Adam Pilka
(+8 others)
2011
Int. Adv. Otol
unpublished
Introduction Sensory organs play an important role in everyday life, particularly as the means of communication between people. During the last hundred years the methods of communication have changed a lot. Today, it is normal to see in the street people, wearing MP3 earphones or Bluetooth earphone from their mobile telephone, walking and talking seemingly to themselves. People's attitude towards their hearing has changed. Good functional hearing is necessary if you want to attend mainstream
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... ool and achieve regular, possibly higher, education. Of course, there are many solutions available for deaf people enabling them attending school and universities, but it is not as easy for them as for the hearing people. Studies performed in many countries indicate the incidence of hearing disorders in newborns ranging from 1 to 7 in 1000 [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. Newborn hearing 194 Objective: Many countries have implemented newborn hearing screening programs, resulting in early intervention and therapy. In spite of that, there is a significant number of schoolchildren with hearing problems. In 2008, the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in collaboration with KRUS (Polish Agricultural Social Insurance Fund) developed and implemented the program of hearing screening in schoolchildren, starting with the eastern regions of Poland. This paper presents the results of the second stage of the program, implemented in western Poland in 2010. Materials and Methods: Program was implemented in western Poland during four months of 2010; 95,411 children, in 4,041 schools, have been examined. Screening was performed using the Platform of Sensory Organs Examinations™, developed by the Institute of Sensory Organs in collaboration with the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing. The Platform comprises central computer and a number of portable computers, communicating with the central database via Internet, equipped for performing: pure tone audiometry, hearing test ʻI can hear'™, speech test ʻI can speak'™, sight test ʻI can see'™, audiological questionnaire, dichotic digits test and gap detection test. Results: Seven-year olds represented 77% of results. Rate of positive results (i.e. audiometry in at least one frequency <20 dB HL and/or positive result of central test) among first graders was 13,9%. The occurrence of tinnitus in this age group was 15,1%, in the group with positive screening result-51,7%. Questionnaire results demonstrated low awareness of parents/carers of their child's hearing problems: 58,8% did not notice the problem. Among children with positive results, 41% were not under specialist care, 27% never had hearing examination except neonatal hearing screening. Conclusions: This program demonstrated that the large number of primary school students have hearing problems, which is not only health, but also an education problem. Authors recommend training a group of school nurses, or other school personnel, to perform screening tests on a regular basis. The program of sensory organs screening is going to be a priority in the area of healthcare during Polish Presidency in European Union (second half of 2011), helping to raise the awareness of this problem's importance.
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