Ashikali Chundathodi 1 , Herman Guild Manayil John 2
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Hearing impairment and preventable ear diseases are found to be important health problems in children of school going age. This study was done to assess the prevalence of hearing impairment among school children of our area. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was done in a local primary school where 741 students were screened for hearing impairment. Data was analysed to calculate the prevalence. RESULTS Prevalence of hearing impairment (excluding wax) in our study was 6.1%. Impacted wax was observed in 6.1% students. Commonest middle ear disease detected was chronic otitis media (2.7%) followed by Eustachian tube dysfunction (1.6%) and otitis media with effusion (1.4%). CONCLUSION Proper screening of school children helps to detect and correct majority of causes of hearing impairment, which offers a better life for them.
