Patterns in Audiological and Demographic Findings of Children with Hearing Loss below 3 Years of Age: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: Early identification of infants with hearing loss and initiating intervention by 6 months has been proven to have positive impacts on children. Understanding the demographic and audiologic factors influencing early identification and intervention of children with hearing loss will be valuable to professionals, implementing authorities, and stakeholders for effective service delivery. The aim of this study was to understand the patterns observed in the demographic and audiological findings of children with hearing loss below 3 years of age. Methods: A retrospective method was adopted to collect the audiological and demographic information from 143 case files of children below 3 years of age, registered in audiology diagnostics at the Institute in the period from January 2017 to December 2017. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation were used to report the findings in various demographic and audiological factors. Results: The mean age of identification (AOI) was found to be 1.38 years (standard deviation [SD] ± 1.07); mean age of amplification was 1.54 years (SD ± 0.766); and age of intervention was 1.59 years (SD ± 0.83). There was a significant positive correlation (0.694) between AOI of hearing loss and age of amplification. The number of children who have been lost to follow-up after diagnosis was 55.2%. Conclusions: The findings from this retrospective data can help professionals to understand how well protocol for young children with hearing loss comply with universal standards and to take necessary steps to heighten quality health-care service.