Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Prevalence of Severe and Profound Sensorineural Hearing Loss in School Children in West Bengal, India

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There is pressing need for reliable information about prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss in children in India. Without this basic information it is difficult to plan services on a rational basis. In this stratified cross sectional study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss in school children in West Bengal, India. We hypothesized that all children with severe or profound hearing loss in elementary schools (age 6–14 years) would be among those identified as ‘children with special need’ because of their marked problems with hearing, speech or communication. First stratum of our study included all 6–14 years old mainstream elementary school ‘children with special need’, with known or suspected hearing problem. Second stratum covered all 6–14 years old hearing impaired children attending special schools. Comprehensive audiological assessment of 10,763 ‘children with special need’ in mainstream elementary schools identified 3984 children showing severe or profound SNHL (≥71 dB). A further 1022 children were identified with similar loss in special schools, giving a total of 5006 children with severe or profound sensorineural loss among a school population of 8,654,057, with estimated prevalence of 0.58 (CI 0.57–0.59) per 1000 children. This is the first large scale study of the epidemiology of severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss in school children in India. Although further studies are needed from other parts of India, in the interim, findings of this study can form the basis for planning resource allocation, service provision, investigation into etiology and prevention of sensorineural deafness in children in India.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Program: Early identification of hearing impairment in infants and young children. https://consensus.nih.gov/1993/1993HearingInfantsChildren092html.htm. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  2. Yoshinaga-Itano C, Apuzzo M (1998) The development of deaf and hard of hearing children identified early through the high-risk registry. Am Ann Deaf 143(5):416–424

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Pimperton H, Blythe H, Kreppner J, Mahon M, Peacock JL, Stevenson J et al (2014) The impact of universal newborn hearing screening on long-term literacy outcomes: a prospective cohort study. Arch Dis Child 101(1):9–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. WHO global estimates on prevalence of hearing loss—mortality and burden of diseases and prevention of blindness and deafness 2012. http://www.who.int/pbd/deafness/WHO_GE_HL.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  5. Olusanya B (2012) Neonatal hearing screening and intervention in resource-limited settings: an overview. Arch Dis Child 97(7):654–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Van Naarden Braun K, Christensen D, Doernberg N, Schieve L, Rice C, Wiggins L et al (2015) Trends in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, intellectual disability, and vision impairment, metropolitan Atlanta, 1991–2010. PLoS ONE 10(4):e0124120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Fortnum H, Davis A (1997) Epidemiology of permanent childhood hearing impairment in trent region, 1985–1993. Br J Audiol 31(6):409–446

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Pal J, Bhatia ML, Prasad BG, Dayal D, Jain PC (1974) Deafness among the urban community–an epidemiological survey at Lucknow (U.P.). Indian J Med Res 62(6):857–868

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Disabled population by type of disability, age and sex. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/Disability_Data/India/C_20-India.xls. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  10. Paul A (2011) Early identification of hearing loss and centralized newborn hearing screening facility—the Cochin experience. Indian Pediatr 48(5):355–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Augustine AM, Jana AK, Kuruvilla KA, Danda S, Lepcha A, Ebenezer J et al (2013) Neonatal hearing screening—experience from a tertiary care hospital in Southern India. Indian Pediatr 51(3):179–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD). http://mohfw.nic.in/index1.php?lang=1&level=2&sublinkid=343&lid=343. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  13. Bajaj Y, Sirimanna T, Albert DM, Qadir P, Jenkins L, Cortina-Borja M et al (2009) Causes of deafness in British Bangladeshi children: a prevalence twice that of the UK population cannot be accounted for by consanguinity alone. Clin Otolaryngol 34(2):113–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Singal N (2009) Education of children with disabilities in India: reaching the marginalized. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001866/186611e.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  15. India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2012) Manual of disability statistics. http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/Revised_Disability_Manual_20june12.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  16. Bess F, Humes L (2003) Audiologic measurement. In: Audiology: the fundamentals. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia

  17. Rehabilitation Council of India: Hearing impairment, classification of severity of hearing impairment. www.rehabcouncil.nic.in/writereaddata/hi.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  18. Speybroeck N, Devleesschauwer B, Joseph L, Berkvens D (2012) Misclassification errors in prevalence estimation: Bayesian handling with care. Int J Public Health 58(5):791–795

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Doss H, Narasimhan B (1994) Bayesian Poisson regression using the Gibbs sampler: sensitivity analysis through dynamic graphics, Technical Report 895, Dept. Statistics, Florida State Univ. http://stat.fsu.edu/techreports/M895.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  20. Stevens G, Flaxman S, Brunskill E, Mascarenhas M, Mathers C, Finucane M (2011) Global and regional hearing impairment prevalence: an analysis of 42 studies in 29 countries. Eur J Public Health 23(1):146–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Bubbico L, Rosano A, Spagnolo A (2007) Prevalence of prelingual deafness in Italy. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital 27(1):17–21

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Russ SA, Poulakis Z, Barker M, Wake M, Rickards F, Sounders K et al (2003) Epidemiology of congenital hearing loss in Victoria Australia. Int J Audiol 42(7):385–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Reddy A, Sinha S (2010) School dropouts or pushouts? Overcoming barriers for right to education. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/2485/1/PTA40.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  24. Mytton J, Mackenzie I (2005) Observed and expected prevalence of permanent childhood hearing impairment in Oldham. J Public Health (Oxf) 27(3):298–302. doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdi037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. India, Ministry Of Minority Affairs (2006) Sachar committee report. http://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/sites/upload_files/moma/files/pdfs/sachar_comm.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  26. Drèze J, Kingdon G (2001) School participation in rural India. Rev Dev Econ 5(1):1–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. The World Bank (2009) People with disabilities in India: from commitments to outcomes. http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2009/09/02/000334955_20090902041543/Rendered/PDF/502090WP0Peopl1Box0342042B01PUBLIC1.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

  28. http://ssa.nic.in (2014) National sample survey of estimation of out-of-school children in the age 6–13 in India. http://ssa.nic.in/pabminutes-documents/NS.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2016

Reference Notes

  1. PBSSM in School Education Portal, West Bengal. http://www.wbsed.gov.in/wbsed/default.html. Personal communication from PBSSM, re, CWSN, dated 21.05.14

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Mr. Subrata Bannerjee, Director of Pratibandhi Kalyan Kendra for his support for this study. The authors would like to thank Mr. Xiaoshan Wang for his help with the statistical analysis.

Funding

This work was funded by the Pratibandhi Kalyan Kendra, Hooghly, West Bengal.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pratibandhi Kalyan Kendra, Hooghly, West Bengal, India

    Suniti Chakrabarti & Nirmalya Ghosh

  2. 22 John Amery Drive, Stafford, ST17 9LZ, UK

    Suniti Chakrabarti

  3. 99/1 Niveditapalli, Burdwan, West Bengal, 713103, India

    Nirmalya Ghosh

Authors
  1. Suniti Chakrabarti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nirmalya Ghosh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Individual contributions of the authors to the study were as follows. SC was responsible for conception and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of data as well as drafting and providing critical revision of the article. NG was responsible for acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data as well as providing critical revision of the article. Both authors provide final approval to the version to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and its accuracy and integrity.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suniti Chakrabarti.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in these studies involving human participation were in accordance with institutional ethical standards and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from parents or guardians of all children participating in this study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chakrabarti, S., Ghosh, N. Prevalence of Severe and Profound Sensorineural Hearing Loss in School Children in West Bengal, India. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 71 (Suppl 2), 1099–1106 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-017-1187-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-017-1187-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation