[Hearing care network for early identification of delayed hearing loss in preschool children].

Objective

To establish a hearing care network for preschool children in Nanjing, to perform early identification and intervention for delayed hearing loss, and to evaluate the application effect of the hearing care network.

Methods

Through the establishment of a hearing care network, hearing screening, diagnosis and follow-up of preschool children were conducted. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions（DPOAE） was adopted for primary hearing screening. Children who failed in the primary screening were re-screened within half a month. DPOAE and acoustic impedance test were used for hearing re-screening. Clinical diagnosis and audiological evaluation were performed for children who failed in the re-screening. Speech assessment, hearing aid intervention, and audio-speech follow-up were conducted for children diagnosed with delayed hearing loss.

Results

Among 29 919 preschool children completing the hearing screening from May 2019 to September 2022, 3208 cases（10.7%） failed the primary screening and 1437 cases（47.7%） failed the re-screening. Total 747 children completed the hearing diagnosis, and 70 children were diagnosed with delayed hearing loss, with a detection rate of 0.23%. Among them, 20 cases were accompanied by language development delay, in which 12 cases received hearing aids and 2 cases received cochlear implantation. In addition, speech assessment and audiological follow-up were completed for 53 children.

Conclusion

The hearing screening for preschool children is beneficial for early detection of children with delayed hearing loss and language development delay. Besides, the establishment of hearing care network is conducive to early identification and intervention of children with hearing loss.