Tympanometric Screening in Elementary School Children

Abstract

The revised ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association, 1990) hearing screening guidelines were developed to decrease over-referrals for middle ear disorders through amended tympanometric measurements. These guidelines also recommended a large-scale normative study be done with tympanometric measures to further reduce the over-referral rate. Seven hundred and fifty ears from 392 kindergarten through third-grade children were tested. Normative values of Peak Y_tmand tympanometric width were calculated by grade. For increasing grade level, there was an orderly increase in the mean Peak Y_tmand a decrease in the mean tympanometric width. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated at 65 and 80% respectively, with a prevalence of 11%. Suggestions for improving sensitivity and specificity are discussed.

Key Words:

• Tympanometry
• Immittance
• PeakY
• Tympanometric width
• Static acoustic admittance
• Children