2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
10/27/2018 | 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM | Paediatric Hearing Loss In Peri-Urban Kumasi: Study Results & Policy Implications For National Childhood Hearing Screening In Ghana | Kramer Lecture Theater 2
Paediatric Hearing Loss In Peri-Urban Kumasi: Study Results & Policy Implications For National Childhood Hearing Screening In Ghana
The prevalence of paediatric hearing loss in Ghana is currently not known. Absence of mandated newborn hearing screening and limited resources to perform newborn and well-child hearing evaluations place challenges on early hearing loss identification and rehabilitation. A cooperative effort between the Ear-Nose-Throat Department at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the School of Public Health at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the University of Michigan Department of Otolaryngology seeks to establish a clinical outreach platform to screen children in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana, to better gauge the rates of paediatric hearing loss.
Using the ShoeBox® audiometer and validated LittlEARS® auditory questionnaire, 387 children were screened in the community using a sound-treated van. Males (n=197) and females (n=190) aged 3-15 years (mean age 8.75) were screened using air conduction pure tones (1,2,4 kHz octave frequencies). Eight out of 362 (2.21%) children either failed screening or were deemed “referred” for further definitive audiometric threshold testing at KATH’s Hearing Assessment Centre. Using the LittlEARS® questionnaire four children scored less than 35 on the 35-question survey; and of these three failed the audiometric test.
These preliminary data estimate the prevalence of paediatric hearing loss in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana at around 2%. Future studies aim to expand the number of children tested and the catchment area to establish more specific rates of hearing loss. The long-term goal is to prompt subsequent large-scale studies and attract funding for implementation of early hearing detection and intervention programmes in Ghana.
- To describe the rates of paediatric hearing loss in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana
- To validate the use of portable hearing screening and questionnaire platforms in the community
- To establish referral/management patterns of children who fail initial hearing screening
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Presenters/Authors
Rita Larsen-Reindorf
(), Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, ritaasamoahowusu@yahoo.com;
Dr. Rita Larsen-Reindorf is an ENT Surgeon who has engaged in clinical work for the past 15years and has seen manychildren present late with delayed speech at which time they are diagnosed with hearing loss. She has a diploma in Project Design and Management from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and a certificatein Clinical Research Methodsfrom the Royal College of Surgeons of England. She completed a summer course in Introduction to Biostatistics and Principles in Clinical Research in Yale University in 2015. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Health at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. She has a passion to advocate for early detection of hearing loss and rehabilitation in children in Ghana. She believes that a community health approach holds promise for addressing this problem rather than waiting in the clinic for patients to present.
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Gregory Basura
(), University of Michigan; Department of Otolaryngology, gbasura@umich.edu;
Dr. Basura is an Assistant Professor at the department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck
Surgery at the University of Michigan; Division of Otology/Neurotology-Skull Base
Surgery. He has training in both basic neuroscience and surgery. He is involved in
investigating disease processes like tinnitus and auditory aberrancy from a fundamental
basic science perspective as well as maintaining the clinical opportunity to extrapolate
investigative inquiry to the human condition. He is involved in an outreach
and long-term medical partnership with Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in
Kumasi, Ghana that is geared towards establishing sustained platforms to expand
education and research initiatives in otology and audiology.
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Bruce Edwards
(), University of Michigan, bedwards@med.umich.edu;
Bruce M Edwards is the Assistant Director of Audiology and Electrophysiology, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health System. He is a Doctor of Audiology.
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