Associated health problems in children with hearing impairment: an institutional study

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 5% of the world s population or 466 million people have a disabling hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children). It is estimated that by 2050, over 900 million people or one in every 10 people will have disabling hearing loss. In children under 15 years of age, 60% of hearing loss is attributable to preventable causes. Sixty-three million people (6.3%) suffer from a significant auditory loss in India; 4 in every 1000 children suffer from severe to profound hearing loss. Every year, over 100,000 babies are born with hearing impairment (HI) in India. The estimated prevalence of adult-onset HI in India was found to be 7.6% and childhood-onset HI as 2%. Rural areas have a high prevalence of hearing loss than that of urban areas. Hearing disability has a higher prevalence in children aged 0–4 years (0.60%) and 5–9 years (0.28%) than all other disabilities (0.32%). Hearing loss has been ranked as the fifth leading cause of years lived with disability which is higher than many other chronic diseases such as diabetes, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. ABSTRACT