Hearing aid status of schoolchildren attending a school for the hearing impaired or the deaf

To evaluate and possibly improve the hearing aid fittings of children atten ding the Westphalian School for the Hearing Impaired or the Westphalian Sch ool for the Deaf, regular pedaudiologic consulting hours were established a t both schools. During a 2-year period, 115 children were examined once, 35 children twice,and S children three times. The examinations comprised ear microscopy, audiometry, and a check of the hearing aids with a 0.6-cm(3) co upler (children up to 7 years) or 2-cm(3) coupler, respectively. The following criteria were used to assess the quality of the hearing aid s etting: status of the external auditory canal and middle ear, acceptance of wearing the hearing aid, status of the ear mold, technical status of the h earing aid, and its setting. The results were related to four variables: ge nder, type of school, age, and mean hearing loss. Overall,just 40.9% of all children showed satisfactory hearing aid performance at the first examinat ion and just 37.1% at the second. A significant influence of the variables on the hearing aid performance was documented for hearing loss only. The hi gher the hearing loss, the more likely the children were to have good heari ng aid status. Analysis of the different parameters revealed that an incorr ect setting was the main problem, with a rate of 20.9%; the rate of the oth er parameters varied from 6.1% to 15.7%. Thus, no parameter was of major re levance to the results. The results of the second examination were poorer i n most parameters than those of the first. These alarming results, which are probably not only of regional significanc e, demonstrate that the hearing aid status of children attending schools fo r the hearing impaired or for the deaf is in urgent need of improvement.