A total of 367 cases of deafness from various Deaf schools were studied to detect Congenital Venereal Disease. A complete General medical, Otorhinolaryngological and Venereological examination was done followed by blood VDRL analysis and audiological assessment. Out of 367 cases, 112 cases had definite family history of deafness, 6 gave history of consanguinity and 7 cases had CSOM in either one or both ears.
A majority of cases had hearing loss of more than 90 dB at speech frequencies in both ears and only in a small percentage the hearing threshold was 60dB. Of the 367 blood samples tested only one (a female child aged 11 years and whose audiogram showed a flat response of 100 dB in both ears) had a weak reaction at zero dilution to the VDRL test. Congenital syphilis is insignificant as a causative factor of deafness among our children, in contrast with other studies.