Audiological screening in subjects with Down syndrome

Introduction. Squires and colleagues in a study dated 1986 reported that the incidence of hearing loss in people with Down syndrome (DS) was 73% versus 22% of controls. Aim. It’s necessary upgrading these results because the mean age of these subjects is much increased, and the cognitive level is different due to less institutionalization and improvement of rehabilitation therapies. In a new project screening, 147 subjects with DS (aged between 11 months and 61 years) underwent comprehensive audiological investigation: general and audiological history, tonal audiometry or behavioral (depending on the degree of collaboration), immittance, speech audiometry and speech audiometry with bisyllabic words (when possible). Results. 44% of subjects reported sensorineural hearing loss, 32% conductive hearing loss (mainly children younger than 5 years), 8% mixed form and the remaining patients were normal hearing. The DS subjects occur early, already aged 20 years or so, high frequency hearing loss. Only 60% of the sample was tested by speech audiometry because most of subjects was uncooperative. Conclusion. Given the high incidence of deafness in DS patients confirms the utility to conduct a periodic audiological screening to enable early diagnosis and timely rehabilitation therapy, so as to avoid social isolation and the possible comorbidities, such as depression.