Prevalence of extended high-frequency hearing loss among adolescents from two rural areas in Colombia

Objective: Worldwide research trends on the prevalence of hearing loss within young rural populations are scarce. Current evidence suggests extended high-frequency audiometry could be a sensitive predictor to detect subclinical hearing loss. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hearing loss through conventional pure tone (0.25–8 kHz) and extended high-frequency (9–20 kHz) audiometry tests in a group of adolescents aged 13 to 19 years old from two rural areas of Colombia. A sociodemographic and associated factor for hearing loss questionnaire was applied. Design: Cross-sectional study. Study Sample: Three hundred sixty-six adolescents aged 13 to 19 years old from two rural municipalities in Colombia: Soracá, and Palmas del Socorro. Results: Hearing loss prevalence assessed through pure tone audiometry was 3.28% in right ears and 3.83% in left ears while through extended high-frequency audiometry was 14.21% and 13.11%, respectively. Associated factors found by the logistic regression were age (OR: 1.36; CI 95% 1.13-1.64) and obesity (OR: 3.74; CI 95% 1.07-13.11). Conclusions: Using 15 dB as the normal hearing threshold parameter for audiometric frequencies, our results suggest that extended high-frequency hearing loss is already widespread among rural adolescents. This highlights the need for research on extended high-frequency audiometry in rural school-aged children.

• Autores: Peñaranda, Daniel; Pérez-Herrera, Lucia C.; Hernández, Diana; Moreno-López, Sergio; perea, ilene; Jacome, Mario; Suetta-Lugo, Nancy; garcia gomez, juan manuel; Peñaranda, Augusto
• Tipo de recurso: Article of journal
• Fecha de publicación: 2020
• Institución: Universidad El Bosque
• Repositorio: Repositorio U. El Bosque
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.unbosque.edu.co:20.500.12495/4663
• Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12495/4663; https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2020.1828631
• Palabra clave: Adolescents; Extended high-frequency audiometry; Hearing loss
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Acceso abierto