Kartläggning av hörselnedsättningar, öronsjukdomar samt diagnostiseringsmöjligheter hos 1 ? 5 åriga barn
öronsjukdomarHörselnedsättningPrevalensIncidensPsykoakustiska testerTympanometriöronmikroskopiOtoskopiEar diseaseHearing lossPrevalenceIncidencePsychoacoustic testsTympanometryEar microscopyOtoscopy
Ear disease and hearing loss in preschool children can be difficult to discover and diagnose. This paper investigates ear disease in 20 children controls from 1 to 5 years of age. The aim of the study was to map prevalence and incidence for ear disease, and prevalence of hearing loss in a group of children.Twenty children wide aged 1, 1½, 3 and 5 were included and investigated according to a set protocol with psychoacoustic tests, tympanometry, ear microscopy and a parental questionnaire. The majority of the children could be evaluated by age adequate psychoacoustic tests and otoscopy. Tympanometry was the investigation method that was most difficult to perform. The results imply that hearing loss was found in 50 % of all the studied children. Furthermore 75 % had signs of ear disease at 1-5 years of age. Of the 20 children, 2 were treated with tympanostomy tubes under the study period.In conclusion, children in pre-school age from a control group, demonstrate a test profile, occurrence of ear disease and hearing loss, at least at the level presented in scientific literature.