1.Evaluation of a bilingual questionnaire-based assessment on hearing in children with speech delay
Liang Chye Goh ; Ali Azman ; Boon Han Kevin Ng ; Leong Chan Chew ; Hufaidah Konting Siti ; Jeyanthi Kulasegarah
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2020;75(2):136-140
Introduction: To correlate the score obtained using a
bilingual (Malay and English) 14 points questionnaire in the
detection of hearing loss at the University of Malaya, Medical
Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia over a 9 month
period.
Methods: This is a prospective instrument correlation study
done on 93 children aged 1-4 years of age with speech and
language delay for at least 3 months. Hearing status was
confirmed using otoacoustic emissions, pure tone
audiometry and brainstem evoked response (BSER).
Hearing status was then compared to the 14-point
questionnaire final scores and is statistically correlated.
Results: There were 26 patients, 15 males (58%) and 11(42%)
females who were diagnosed to have hearing loss. The
average age of presentation was 2.49 and conductive
hearing loss accounted for about 74% of cases of hearing
loss. The mean questionnaire score obtained through our
patients was 3.83±1.987. Discriminant analysis suggests
that a questionnaire score of above 4 was indicative that the
child was suffering from hearing loss.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that the low-cost bilingual
(Malay and English) questionnaire can be used to detect
hearing loss in the Malaysian population and could
potentially be useful in rural health centres to help detect
hearing loss and to determine the urgency of referral to a
tertiary health centre.