IDENTIFICATION AND DIAGNOSTIC EVALUATION OF HEARING IMPAIRMENTS IN EARLY-CHILDHOOD IN GERMAN-SPEAKING INFANTS

The present study was devised to gather epidemiological information to aid in understanding the etiology, identification, and management of children with permanent hearing losses in Lower Saxony as a defined ge ographical area of Germany. All infants and preschool children were id entified in the Department of Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology duri ng a 1-year period (October 1994 until October 1995). Forty-four heari ng-impaired children were identified, of whom 41 (93%) had sensorineur al losses and 3 had pure conductive losses. Thirty-two children (73%) had bilateral hearing impairments. The causes of hearing loss were unk nown in 17 children (39%). The median age of identification for the st udy group was 32 months, with a median age of 35.5 months when fitting hearing aids. Severity of hearing loss was inversely associated with age of identification. Prelingually deaf children had the worst compre hension levels of all children tested psychologically. Results were ta bulated and special references to other studies were discussed. Our fi ndings show again that the successful outcome of speech and language d evelopment depends on early identification and management of the heari ng loss, and on continued assessment of the progress of habilitation. These require a basic assessment of the stage of language development (in perception and expression) as relevant rehabilitation measures. Th e next step is the treatment of existing linguistic deficits followed by retests at regular intervals.