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Article

Assessment of the Hearing Status of School-Age Children from Rural and Urban Areas of Mid-Eastern Poland

by
Edyta Pilka
1,*,
W. Wiktor Jedrzejczak
1,
Krzysztof Kochanek
2,
Malgorzata Pastucha
1 and
Henryk Skarzynski
2
1
Department of Experimental Audiology, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Mochnackiego 10, 02-042 Warsaw, Poland
2
Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Mochnackiego 10, 02-042 Warsaw, Poland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(8), 4299; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084299
Submission received: 30 March 2021 / Revised: 14 April 2021 / Accepted: 15 April 2021 / Published: 18 April 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Children's Health)
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Abstract

(1) Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of hearing loss in school-age children from rural and urban areas of mid-eastern Poland using standard audiological tests—pure tone audiometry (PTA), impedance audiometry (IA), and otoacoustic emissions (OAEs). (2) Methods: Data were collected from a group of 250 children aged 8 to 13, made up of 122 children from urban areas and 128 children from rural areas of mid-eastern Poland. Hearing was assessed in each of the subjects by means of PTA, IA (tympanometry), and transient-evoked OAEs (TEOAEs). Otoscopy was also performed. (3) Results: There were significantly fewer abnormal results in children from urban than rural areas: they were, respectively, 10.1% and 23.1% for IA, 3% and 9.7% for PTA, and 17.3% and 31.8% for TEOAEs. For hearing-impaired ears in rural areas (failed TEOAE), hearing thresholds were, on average, 11.5 dB higher at 0.5 kHz than for children in urban areas. Comparison of each PTA result with the corresponding IA showed that all cases of hearing loss were related to malfunction of the middle ear. (4) Conclusions: The results of all three hearing tests were significantly worse in children from rural areas compared to those from urban areas. This indicates that audiological healthcare in rural areas needs improvement and that universal hearing screening programs for school-age children would be helpful.
Keywords: pure tone audiometry; otoacoustic emissions; TEOAE; tympanometry; hearing screening pure tone audiometry; otoacoustic emissions; TEOAE; tympanometry; hearing screening

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MDPI and ACS Style

Pilka, E.; Jedrzejczak, W.W.; Kochanek, K.; Pastucha, M.; Skarzynski, H. Assessment of the Hearing Status of School-Age Children from Rural and Urban Areas of Mid-Eastern Poland. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 4299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084299

AMA Style

Pilka E, Jedrzejczak WW, Kochanek K, Pastucha M, Skarzynski H. Assessment of the Hearing Status of School-Age Children from Rural and Urban Areas of Mid-Eastern Poland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(8):4299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084299

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pilka, Edyta, W. Wiktor Jedrzejczak, Krzysztof Kochanek, Malgorzata Pastucha, and Henryk Skarzynski. 2021. "Assessment of the Hearing Status of School-Age Children from Rural and Urban Areas of Mid-Eastern Poland" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 8: 4299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084299

APA Style

Pilka, E., Jedrzejczak, W. W., Kochanek, K., Pastucha, M., & Skarzynski, H. (2021). Assessment of the Hearing Status of School-Age Children from Rural and Urban Areas of Mid-Eastern Poland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(8), 4299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084299

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