Author Interviews, Hearing Loss, JAMA, Pediatrics / 30.07.2017
Nearly 20% of Children May Not Have Normal Hearing
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Carlijn M. P. le Clercq, MD
Speech and Language Pathology, Pediatrics, Otolaryngology
Erasmus MC , Rotterdam
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: There has been increasing interest for acquired hearing loss among children, and concerns about its prevalence possibly rising over time. One of the questions that come up, is whether there is an association with the growing use of portable music players with headphones, including smartphones and tablets. There have been few longitudinal studies to explore this relation.
In order to examine this relation, among other factors, we have conducted a formal hearing screening among more than 5000 9- to 11-year-old children from a population-based birth cohort in the Netherlands.
Our study showed that nearly one in five children did not have normal hearing. Of the cohort, 7.8% of the children showed signs of permanent hearing loss.
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