Hearing Loss and Middle Ear Disorders in Patients With Down's Syndrome (Mongolism)

Down syndrome: Common otolaryngologic manifestations

“…Although the majority of hearing loss is conductive in nature, current data suggest that between 4% and 20% of patients with DS may also have either a sensorineural hearing loss or a mixed hearing loss, which includes both conductive and nerve hearing loss [Brooks et al, 1972;Balkany et al, 1979a,b;Davies, 1988]. It is difficult to determine, however, what percentage of the sensorineural hearing loss in these reports is secondary to consequences of untreated chronic otitis media and what percentage is true congenital sensorineural loss.…”

“…Children with DS have a three times higher incidence of chronic ear disease and secondary hearing loss due to chronic ear disease than other children with developmental delays [Brooks et al, 1972;Dahle and McCollister, 1986]. Multiple studies have shown a relationship between mild hearing loss and educational, language, and emotional development [Holm and Kunze, 1969;Brooks et al, 1972;Balkany et al, 1979a].…”

“…Amplification with hearing aids should be considered even if there is only a mild hearing loss, especially in view of the data linking mild hearing loss with delays in educational, emotional, and language development [Holm and Kunze, 1969;Brooks et al, 1972;Balkany et al, 1979a]. This is of particular importance for children with DS where the expressive language skills are delayed compared to cognitive abilities.…”

“…Multiple studies have shown a relationship between mild hearing loss and educational, language, and emotional development [Holm and Kunze, 1969;Brooks et al, 1972;Balkany et al, 1979a]. Even mild hearing loss can affect a child's articulation [Dobie and Berlin, 1979;Bess, 1985].…”

Wideband energy reflectance findings in presence of normal tympanogram in children with Down's syndrome

“…Although children in both studies have moderate to severe cognitive impairments, the inability to assess hearing in a high proportion of the children with DS in this study is mainly because they are younger than those in Rupa's study [15]. Therefore, several investigators have suggested the use of objective measures for evaluation of hearing sensitivity because behavioral hearing testing in children with intellectual impairments such as DS provides inaccurate and unreliable responses [15,[48][49][50][51]. However, objective evaluation of hearing was not used in this study because the study's main objective was to evaluate middle ear function, not hearing sensitivity.…”