Audiological screening in subjects with Down syndrome

Introduction. Squires and colleagues in a study dated 1986 reported that the incidence of hearing loss in people with Down syndrome (DS) was 73% versus 22% of controls. Aim. It\u2019s necessary upgrading these results because the mean age of these subjects is much increased, and the cognitive level is different due to less institutionalization and improvement of rehabilitation therapies. In a new project screening, 147 subjects with DS (aged between 11 months and 61 years) underwent comprehensive audiological investigation: general and audiological history, tonal audiometry or behavioral (depending on the degree of collaboration), immittance, speech audiometry and speech audiometry with bisyllabic words (when possible). Results. 44% of subjects reported sensorineural hearing loss, 32% conductive hearing loss (mainly children younger than 5 years), 8% mixed form and the remaining patients were normal hearing. The DS subjects occur early, already aged 20 years or so, high frequency hearing loss. Only 60% of the sample was tested by speech audiometry because most of subjects was uncooperative. Conclusion. Given the high incidence of deafness in DS patients confirms the utility to conduct a periodic audiological screening to enable early diagnosis and timely rehabilitation therapy, so as to avoid social isolation and the possible comorbidities, such as depression