Symposium on sensorineural hearing loss in children: early detection and intervention. Classifications of auditory impairment.

Over the past 25 years there has been a consistently growing interest in the identification of hearing disorders in children. Basic to the identification of hearing loss are the degree of hearing loss, the age of onset, the etiology, and the site of the lesion. In this modern era, hearing loss should not go undetected, and a child with a hearing loss no longer has to wait until he is six years of age before he can be treated and educated. Very young children can be successfully tested for auditory problems, and every effort should be taken to detect and identify such children with hearing problems. The audiometric tests devised for adults have been adapted, in part, for the measurement of hearing in children. The threshold values derived from standard audiometry and play audiometry are equivalent to those in adults. If some consistency is used in classifying children with auditory impairment, future research will be enhanced in the areas of prevention and social and educational management of children with auditory impairment.