Changes in the significance of maternal rubella as a factor in childhood deafness--1954 to 1982.

The previously reported reduction in rubella-related congenital deafness in Australian children born since 1977 has been confirmed by a survey of hearing-aid fittings for rubella-related deafness among those born from 1954 to 1982. Analyses of these figures also showed that in more than 50% of individuals born during the period 1954 to 1975, rubella deafness had not been recognized as such, and that mild-to-moderate deafness was a more frequent outcome of maternal rubella than was severe or profound deafness. A prediction has been made of the expected total incidence of hearing-aid fittings to children when rubella accounts for a far smaller percentage of the cases of deafness than in previous years.