Hearing in primary school children in an iodine-deficient population in Chinamhora, Zimbabwe.

Chinamhora, Zimbabwe is an area of known endemic goiter and iodine deficiency. Out of 211 primary school children living in the area who had been recruited for a study of the effects of iodine administration, 121 were randomly selected for audiometric testing. All had normal hearing. One further child already noted to have hearing difficulties was tested and found to have fairly severe bilateral nerve deafness, although this was unlikely to have been due to endemic cretinism. Urine iodine/creatinine ratios in 61 out of the 211 children were mostly in the range 50-100 micrograms/g. There is no general impairment of hearing associated with mild to moderate iodine deficiency in this population.