Hearing test screening in school age children in Malatya province

Hearing Test Screening in School Age Children in Malatya Province Aim: Hearing loss can be defined as the inability to detect sounds in the environment and to prevent the acquisition and adaptation of the individual and especially the acquisition of communication and language skills due to the pathologies occurring in the outer, middle, inner ear and acoustic nerves. In the study, it was aimed to determine the frequency of hearing loss and evaluation of risk factors in the 5th grade school children in Malatya and to increase the awareness of the disease in the community. Cases and Methods: 812 5th grade students in primary schools were enrolled in Malatya Turkey between March 2018 and February 2019. Hearing screening was performed with Resonance R17A audiometry device and pure Tone Audiometry method. Results: The prevelance of hearing loss and risk factors in children with mean age 10±1were planned to evaluate in our study. Hearing loss was detected in 11 of 24 (3%) children. These children were also evaluated by detailed examination and advanced tests and three of these children (27,2%) had very mild, 4 children (36,3%) had mild, 2 children (18,1%) had moderate, 2 children (18,1%) had severe and/or profound hearing loss. When risk factors were evaluated, it was found that there were complaints of feverish disease (p = 0,02), repetitive ear disease (p = 0,03), history of hearing loss (p = 0,04), listening to loud television-listening music (p = 0,007), and having difficulties about hearing the talking (p = 0,004) are statistically significant risk factors for hearing test scans (p <0,05). The prevelance of hearing loss was 1.35% in school aged children for this study. Conclusion: Congenital or acquired hearing loss, which is not disturbed the speech, leads to the loss of the child especially in the field of education. For this reason, it should be ensured that necessary hearing measures are taken by following the hearing losses very well in children, including very mild hearing loss. We think that hearing screening should be widespread in pre-school and school age children after newborn screenings. Key words: Hearing screening, Malatya, audiometry, school age children.