Prevalence of speech language and hearing impairment in school going children of rural area: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Background: This study aimed on identifying children with hearing, speech and language disorders in rural population that are not identified, diagnosed or rehabilitated yet. The study also focused on collecting a large data with increased study duration to give an appropriate representation of the findings in a rural population.Methods: Subjective tests were used to screen for hearing, speech and language disorders.Results: On performing audiological and speech language tests, 130 children were found to have hearing, speech and language disorders out of 1,453 children.Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that there is a need to create an awareness and importance in identifying hearing and speech language disorders. This can be done by setting up clinics in rural areas, thus improving the accessibility of these diagnostic and rehabilitative services.

Prevalence of communication disorders among school children in Ballari, South India: A cross-sectional study

“…The present study results revealed a total of 75 (3.25%) children with hearing and otological problems which is similar to the study by Savithri et al 14 which reported 3.4% of prevalence rate for hearing disorders among school children and also a study by Varsha et al 16 who reported presence of hearing and otological problems in 85 children among 1453 school children. Further, among the 75 children with hearing and otological problems, 53 (2.30%) children were having otological problems such as impacted curemen, perforation, ear pain, etc which is lesser in contrast to the findings of previous studies by Chadha et al, 18 who reported a prevalence rate of 17.92% among school children in northern India and also a study by Parvez et al 20 who reported a prevalence rate of 17.9% among school children of Aligarh district.…”

“…20 Otological impairments are more frequent seasonal (rainy & winter) weather changes, may be leading to common middle ear pathologies in the school children, 34 especially among children from rural areas due to poor hygiene, lack of awareness and socioeconomic issues. 17,18,19,35 A total of 24 children (1.04%) out of total 2304 school children were identified to have speech and language disorders which is lesser in contrast to the prevalence rate of 10.6% reported by Savithri et al 14 and 3.09% by Varsha et al 16 The present study revealed stuttering and speech sound disorders are more prevalent among school children compared to other speech and language disorders. The majority of developmental language disorders in school children were due to the presence of impairments in sensory, functional and intellectual abilities with poorer access to the rehabilitative services, poor modeling and reinforcement by teachers & parents 14 and certain sensory loss can also affect academic the performances of children.…”

“…in males than females. 8,10,14,16 The results of the present study revealed lesser prevalence rates (4.29%) of communication disorders among school children in Ballari district as compared to the previous studies 14,15, . 16 The lower prevalence rate of communication disorders may be due to the differences in methods used where the present study included a elaborated audiological screening and speech & language evaluation of all the participants in contrast to screening procedures by the previous studies 14,15, .…”

“…16 The lower prevalence rate of communication disorders may be due to the differences in methods used where the present study included a elaborated audiological screening and speech & language evaluation of all the participants in contrast to screening procedures by the previous studies 14,15, . 16 The lower prevalence rate of communication disorders among school children revealed by the present study is also may be due to the fact that the participants were from only six schools of Ballari district which may not be the true representative sample of entire district.…”

“…In a study on primary school children from Bikaner, Rajasthan, Ojha et al 15 reported a higher prevalence rate of 15.7% for hearing impairment. Similarly, Varsha et al 16 reported a prevalence rate of 8.94% among 1453 school children in the age range of 4-14 years in Chengalpattu district of Tamil Nadu with 58.46% having hearing impairments and 41.54% having speech & language disorders. The results of the epidemiological studies indicated that the increased prevalence rates of communication disorders among school children is majorly due to presence of preventable otological conditions such as impacted cerumen, otitis media, fungal infections, and foreign body insertions which result in reduced hearing sensitivity as also reported by previous studies.…”