International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | January 2017 | Vol 4 | Issue 1 Page 200 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Norman P et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017 Jan;4(1):200-205 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article The factors associated with hearing impairment in school children Prasan Norman 1 *, Mahendran Chandran 2 , Pandiyan Kr 2 , Kokila Selvaraj 2 INTRODUCTION Hearing impairment is a neglected chronic condition. It is the most prevalent sensory disability across nations. According to the 2014 estimates of the WHO, 360 million people worldwide have hearing impairment, 328 million adults and 32 million children are suffering from hearing impairment worldwide. 1 That is about 5% of the world population. The sense of hearing is often taken for granted and people do not realize its importance unless it is lost or impaired. The terms hearing loss, deafness, hard of hearing, anacusis, hearing impairment (considered derogatory by many in the community) mean a partial or total inability to hear. 2,3 In children it may affect the development of language. Consequences of hearing impairment include delay in language acquisition, inability to interpret speech sounds, often producing a reduced ability to ABSTRACT Background: The morbidity of ENT infections have increased considerably in recent decades, so that they are now amongst the most common chronic disorders of childhood. Awareness of hearing deficit is poor in India. The major proportion of childhood hearing impairment in developing countries is secondary to preventable causes. At the same time, even mild degrees of hearing impairment can affect proper learning in noisy class rooms where speech is produced at a distance. This in turn can have significant impact on the scholastic performance and overall development. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted to identify the factors leading to hearing impairment in school children aged 8years to 14 years in the schools in Vadamavanthal area during the months of January 2013 to July 2013. The students were interviewed through pre - tested questionnaire and aural examination was done by a qualified otolaryngologist. Results: Out of 700 school, 216(30.9%) school children were suffering from hearing impairment. 139 (19.9%) students were found to be suffering from impacted wax, 67 (9.6%) were suffering from otitis media with effusion, 17 (2.4%) students were suffering from chronic suppurative otitis media and 5 (0.7%) students were suffering from foreign body impaction in ear. Conclusions: Simple measures like regular screening for ear diseases and hearing assessment done at the school level can help identify hearing impairment which can be modified with early health education for students and teachers. Keywords: CSOM, School children, 8 years, 14 years, Wax 1 Department of Community Medicine, Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Medical Sciences, Madhuranthagam, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Community Medicine, Meenakshi Medical College, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India Received: 02 November 2016 Accepted: 01 December 2016 *Correspondence: Dr. Prasan Norman, E-mail: namronhere@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20164738