Ear disease and hearing loss among Navajo children--a mass survey.

A team of trained technicians in a specially equipped mobile van conducted a mass screening effort on the Navajo Reservation from 1978 to 1980 to detect and refer individuals with ear disease and hearing loss; 15,890 school children were examined. The prevalence data and correlations of hearing level with ear disease are presented: 4.0% of the children had TM perforations, 2.3% middle ear effusions, 1.9% TM atelectasis, and 0.4% had sensorineural hearing loss. Microtia was found in 1:935, with a cluster on the Western one-fourth of the reservation. Cholesteatoma was rare. The patterns of ear disease are contrasted with other groups.