Original Research
Referral criteria for school-based hearing screening in South Africa: Considerations for resource-limited contexts
Submitted: 10 October 2017 | Published: 11 October 2016
About the author(s)
Faheema Mahomed-Asmail, Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South AfricaDe Wet Swanepoel, Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Ear Sciences Centre, School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia; Ear Science Institute, Australia
Robert H. Eikelboom, Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Ear Sciences Centre, School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia; Ear Science Institute, Australia
Full Text:
PDF (583KB)Abstract
Methods: A within-subject study was conducted in two phases. Phase 1: compared the referral rate in a counterbalanced sequence at screening levels of 20 dB HL, 25 dB HL and 30 dB HL across 1, 2 and 4 kHz for 135 children. Phase 2: determined the effect of an immediate rescreen on referral rate for 337 children screened at 25 dB HL. If a further referral was obtained on rescreen, diagnostic audiometry was subsequently conducted.
Results: Referral rate was reduced to 6.7% from 17% when using 25 dB HL as opposed to 20 dB HL as screening intensity. Referral rate was reduced to 4.4% when employing 30 dBHL as screening intensity. An immediate rescreen reduced the overall referral rate by more than one-third. Diagnostic audiometry confirmed that almost half (47%) of the referred children had a hearing loss.
Conclusion: A screening intensity of 25 dB HL andimmediate rescreen reduces the referral rate significantly and will limit the burden of the screening programme on health care resources.
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Crossref Citations
1. Assessing the efficacy of asynchronous telehealth-based hearing screening and diagnostic services using automated audiometry in a rural South African school
Samantha M. Govender, Maurice Mars
South African Journal of Communication Disorders vol: 65 issue: 1 year: 2018
doi: 10.4102/sajcd.v65i1.582