Relationship between Parents' Suspicion and Degree of Hearing Loss in Children with Bilateral Hearing Loss

Introduction: The suspicion of parents or guardians is considered a risk factor for hearing loss in children and an important aspect in infant hearing assessment.

Objective: To associate the suspicion of parents or guardians regarding children’s hearing with the degree of hearing loss.

Methods: This was a retrospective study with secondary data analysis. The information from the interview regarding the suspicion of parents or guardians about children’s hearing, as well as pure-tone audiometry data (degree of hearing loss) were analyzed. This study included 26 children aged from 4 to 11 years old with similar degree of hearing loss in both ears. The degrees of hearing loss were grouped as follows: (1) minimal and mild, (2) moderate to moderately severe, and (3) hearing loss restricted to isolated frequencies. No cases of profound bilateral hearing loss were observed and an only case of severe bilateral hearing loss was excluded. The parents’ suspicion and the degree of hearing loss were related by chi-square test.

Results: No statistically significant association was found between the data analyzed (p = 0.544). However, it is noteworthy that the degrees of hearing loss included in this study were from minimal to moderately severe.

Conclusion: No relationship was found between parents’ suspicion and degree of hearing loss in children in this study. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of perform hearing assessment in children even without family’ suspicion of hearing loss.

Keywords: Hearing loss, child, audiometry.