Prevalence and Characteristics of Congenital Hearing Loss in Children: A Register Based Study

Abstract

Congenital hearing loss is present at birth or soon after birth due to various reasons such as genetic or environmental factors during the prenatal or perinatal period. Congenital hearing loss can be of any type or degree based on the etiology affecting the outer, middle, and/or inner ear. Due to limited prevalence studies showing the distribution of various degrees of hearing loss in children having congenital hearing loss, the current study is planned to provide information about the recent prevalence and characteristics of congenital hearing loss reported to All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) in 2019. A retrospective study was done in a total of 1217 pediatric cases with age less than 15 years were reported to AIISH audiology OPD for audiological evaluation. Out of 1217 children reported to AIISH in 2019, 823(67.2%) children were reported to have congenital hearing loss. The degree of hearing loss in these 823 children ranged from mild to profound. The congenital hearing loss was more prevalent in male children (54.4%, n=448) compared to females (46.6%, n=375) in the study period. It was found that profound hearing loss was most prevalent in children with congenital hearing loss in both the ears followed by severe, moderately severe, moderate and mild hearing loss. More children with congenital hearing loss were in the age range of 5-10 and 3-5 years. Consanguinity was one of the most reported risk factors. There was a significant association between gender of children and birth complications and risk factors in occurrence of congenital hearing loss. Associated co-morbid conditions with congenital hearing loss were intellectual disability, chronic heart disease, cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, seizure disorder, microcephaly, visual impairment, and autism. Delayed speech and language development was the main complaint followed by misarticulation and poorer academic performance in children with congenital hearing loss.