Pure-tone Auditory Threshold in School Children

Overview

Journal Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol

Specialty Otorhinolaryngology

Date 2011 May 24

PMID 21604074

Citations 5

Authors

Reinhard Muller

Gerald Fleischer

Joachim Schneider

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

To determine pure-tone auditory thresholds, 197 screened children at a typical primary school in a German town (~70,000 inhabitants) were examined. All children underwent a tympanometry and an audiometry at 17 frequencies from 125 to 16 kHz. Regarding age effects, two groups (6-8 and 9-12 years) were analyzed. The cross-sectional research was supplemented by a follow-up study with 35 children of the first graders 3 years later. School children have the poorest hearing sensitivity at low frequencies (below 1 kHz) and the best sensitivity at the extended high frequencies above 8 kHz. Hearing thresholds are rising significantly with age. Through all frequencies, averaged improvements were 3.8 dB (right ear) and 3.7 dB (left ear) at the cross-sectional study and 3.7 dB (right ear) and 5.1 dB (left ear) at the longitudinal study. The overall deviation (left and right) from the standard thresholds for adults were 7.4 and 3.6 dB for the younger and older age groups, respectively. The ear canal volume (ECV) measured by tympanometric tests was at mean with 1.06 cm(3) for the 6- to 8-year age group significantly lower (p < 0.001) in comparison with 1.18 cm(3) for the 9- to 12-year age group. Also, girls had significant (p < 0.001) smaller ECV (mean 1.07 cm(3)) than boys (1.17 cm(3)). Auditory performance improves with rising age in school children.

Citing Articles

Effects of Self-Generated Noise on Quiet Threshold by Transducer Type in School-Age Children and Adults.

Porter H, Leibold L, Buss E J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2020; 63(6):2027-2033.

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Prevalence of hearing impairment amongst school going children in the rural field practice area of the institution.

Kumar S, Aramani A, Mathew M, Bhat M, Rao V Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019; 71(Suppl 2):1567-1571.

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Effects of Self-Generated Noise on Estimates of Detection Threshold in Quiet for School-Age Children and Adults.

Buss E, Porter H, Leibold L, Grose J, Hall J Ear Hear. 2016; 37(6):650-659.

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A Prevalence Study of Hearing Loss among Primary School Children in the South East of Iran.

Absalan A, Pirasteh I, Dashti Khavidaki G, Asemi Rad A, Nasr Esfahani A, Nilforoush M Int J Otolaryngol. 2013; 2013:138935.

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Reversible audiometric threshold changes in children with uncomplicated malaria.

Adjei G, Goka B, Kitcher E, Rodrigues O, Badoe E, Kurtzhals J J Trop Med. 2013; 2013:360540.

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