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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Extended high-frequency audiometry
• hearing loss
• adolescents

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Emily Harmon and Eliana Parra for their writing assistance and technical editing. We would like to thank Sandra Pinzon, the audiologist that performed the audiometric testing. Finally, we show our gratitude to the School Principals from both institutions: “Institución Educativa Simón Bolivar” in Soracá (Boyacá), and “Colegio Departamental La Inmaculada” in Palmas del Socorro (Santander). Their support during the fieldwork was essential for data collection.

Ethics approval

The Ethical Committee of the Hospital Universitario Fundación Santa Fe (CCEI-9737-2018) and the Hospital de San José (act number 500, DI-I-0901-19) approved this study. All patients and their parents provided written informed consent.

Author contributions

DPG had the original idea of the project. DPG, DCH, IP and MJ created the protocol of the study. LPH, together with NS and the corresponding author, APS, was involved in the fieldwork data collection in both municipalities and administered the sociodemographic questionnaires to the adolescents. LPH and APS conducted the study and secured the proper acquisition of data. SML was involved in Soracá’s data collection, performed the statistical analysis and data analytics. LPH, DCH and IP performed data tabulation. All authors were involved in the drafting of the manuscript and revised the manuscript critically for intellectual content. LPH translated the manuscript from Spanish to English. All authors read and approved the final manuscript for publication.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Data availability statement

Part of the data generated or analysed during this study is included in this published article. Full datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Unidad Medico Quirúrgica de Otorrinolaringología UNIMEQ-ORL and EARLOGIC S.A. from Bogotá, Colombia.