Hearing impairment: is it a public health problem among primary school pupils in Alexandria?

A hearing screening survey was conducted among the primary school students in Alexandria. It aimed at measuring the prevalence of hearing impairment among students and studying the predisposing factors of hearing problems. The schools of the middle educational region were selected to carry out the study. Hearing tests; audiometry and tympanometry, were used to screen 196 students from different types of schools (113, 55 and 28 students from governmental, language and private schools respectively). A questionnaire was introduced to a subsample of those students (n = 141) including some predisposing factors of hearing problems and answered by parents. The physical environment of schools was studied including noise level, ventilation and crowding. The obtained results showed that the prevalence of failed students in audiometry and tympanometry was 24.49 % and 36.22 % respectively. Moreover, the prevalence of pupils who failed in both tests was 7.65 %. Boys were more likely to have hearing impairments than girls. Positive family history of deafness early in life and the continuous complaining of nasal obstruction were significantly related to hearing impairments among students. A very small percentage of parents (4.17 %) were aware of the presence of a hearing problem in their children. Furthermore, 48 % of failed students in audiometry were poor achievers in schools as stated by their teachers. The study of physical environment in schools revealed noise levels (inside and outside classes) above the acceptable but still within the permissible level. On the other hand, crowding at schools, as measured by the per capita space area, showed a significant association with the hearing problems in students. It is recommended to improve awareness of parents and teachers through health education programs. Screening questionnaire can develop an at risk concept for children, as the use of specialist otologists for screening is likely to be very expensive and they must be considered as first point of referral after screening.