Audiometric screening of a population with intellectual disability

Abstract

Objective: Evaluation of pure-tone audiometry (PTA) in hearing screening of a population with mild to profound intellectual disability (ID). Design: PTA was performed at six frequencies at the screening level 20 dB HL. Referral criteria were threshold levels ≥ 25 dB HL at two or more frequencies for one ear or both. Study sample: 1478 participants aged 7–91 years were included. Results: 1470 (99.5%) people cooperated in screening of which 1325 (90%) could be tested on both ears at all six frequencies. A majority, 987 (66.8%), performed ordinary PTA, 234 (15.8%) conditioned play audiometry, and 249 (16.9%) behavioural observation audiometry. Six hundred and sixty-nine (45%) passed and 809 (55%) failed according to referral criteria. Of those failing, 441 (54.5%) accepted referral to clinical evaluation. Conclusions: PTA with slight modifications is applicable for screening of a population with mild to profound intellectual disability. The most challenging and time-consuming activity is to introduce the test procedure in a way that reduces anxiety and establishes trust.

Key Words::

• Intellectual disability
• screening audiometry
• psycho-acoustic method

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the former Älvsborg County Council and the former Swedish Council for Social Research.

Declaration of interests: The authors report no conflict of interest.