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Hearing loss at the age of 5 years of children born preterm–a matter of definition
Author(s) -
Herrgård E,
Karjalainen S,
Martikainen A,
Hein K
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1995.tb13517.x
Subject(s) - medicine , audiology , hearing loss , absolute threshold of hearing , hearing impaired , conductive hearing loss , pediatrics
The effect of three common hearing impairment criteria on the prevalence of hearing loss was evaluated in 58 prospectively followed‐up 5‐year‐old children born preterm at 32 weeks of gestation. Audiological assessment was done as part of an extensive neurodevelopmental evaluation at the age of 5 years. With the criterion based on the classification of the World Health Organization (average threshold hearing level >25dB at frequencies of 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz, classified according to the less impaired side) there were two preterm children with mild hearing impairment. With Clark's criterion (unilateral average threshold hearing level > 15dB at frequencies of 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz) eight children had slight hearing impairment; seven of these had conductive hearing problems. With the criterion of a single frequency‐specific deficit > 15 dB for 0.25‐4 kHz the number of hearing‐impaired children was 28 out of 54 (51.9%), most of whom had conductive or unspecified hearing deficits. Moreover, of the four multiply handicapped, retarded children whose pure tone thresholds were not assessed mon‐aurally, three would belong to the hearing‐impaired group according to Clark's criterion and four according to the frequency‐specific criterion, Hearing impairment, hearing impairment classification, low birthweight, preterm