[Descriptive cross-sectional study of hearing-disabled children at the National Institute for Education of the Deaf in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

In Brazil, research is scarce on multiple disabilities and hearing disability in particular. Researchers began a pioneering study in 1992, evaluating students from public special education programs, currently focused on hearing disability. The authors evaluated 232 students ranging from 1 to 39 years of age (mean 10.9 years), with male gender prevailing. Consanguinity was present in 7.6% and a family history of deafness in 19%. Gestational complications were recorded in 33% of cases. Normal labor occurred in 72%, and delivery at term in 75%. Neonatal complications were present in 35% of the sample. Environmental causes accounted for 56% of the sample, genetic causes 20.7%, and the remaining 20.7% were classified as idiopathic. The current findings corroborate those from the literature. We believe that this study can spark greater concern for the hearing-disabled and that through increased knowledge of this group's characteristics it may foster strategies to facilitate interaction with society as a whole.