Universität zu Köln

Schäfer, Karolin (2013). Screening mit dem LittlEARS®(MED-EL)-Hörfragebogen - Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Möglichkeit eines zweiten Hörscreenings für Kinder im Alter von 10-12 Monaten im Rahmen der Früherkennungsuntersuchung U6. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

Preview

PDF Dissertation_Karolin_Schaefer_2013.pdf - Submitted Version Download (7MB)

Abstract

Neonatal hearing screening (NHS) has been a major step forward in the effective management of hearing loss in infants. Nevertheless, monitoring of listening skills of very young infants needs to be continued, because progressive or acquired hearing loss due to trauma or disease (genetic, progressive) will not be detected with NHS. First experiences with NHS in Germany have shown that there are some limitations like false negatives or drop-outs in the follow-up procedure as well as infants who are still not screened at all. The aim of this study was to develop and test a system for “second hearing screening” at the age of twelve months as an addition to NHS. The LittlEARS® auditory questionnaire which is based on reference data of normal hearing infants was used to detect hearing loss at a very young age. The questionnaire was originally designed to monitor the progress of developing listening skills in infants from 0-24 months who received hearing aids or cochlear implants. It consists of 35 yes-or-no questions that can easily be answered within ten minutes. The age of twelve months was chosen to screen infants at a regular pediatrician check-up visit which is commonly accepted in Germany. A total of n=5320 questionnaires from more than 50 pediatricians who took part in the study was analysed. On basis of the questionnaires, six infants with permanent hearing loss were identified, as well as several infants with frequent otitis media, infants with speech or other developmental dysfunctions like autism and cognitive deficits. It seems that LittlEARS® is not only sensitive to hearing disorders but also to other developmental delays that are associated with early hearing and communication deficits. This could be a chance to detect as many infants as possible who are not developing regular listening or communicative skills and offer rehabilitation services to them at a very young age.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schäfer, Karolin karolin.schaefer@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-52357
Date:	21 July 2013
Language:	German
Faculty:	Faculty of Human Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Heilpädagogik und Rehabilitation
Subjects:	Medical sciences Medicine
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Früherkennung German Hörstörungen German Hörscreening German
Date of oral exam:	3 July 2013
Referee:	Name Academic Title Coninx, Frans Prof. Dr. Ir. Neumann, Katrin Prof. Dr. Med.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/5235