Infants born in developing countries are either not getting adequate screening tests for hearing or receiving none at all, an ongoing study is reporting.
In a study out of Ruhr University Bochum, the team of international researchers headed by Dr. Katrin Neumann set out to examine how infants born in less-advanced nations fare when it comes to detecting and treating hearing disorders. The researchers examined the current standards of hearing tests for infants in 151 countries with the aim of creating screening standards that could be used throughout the world.
The researchers found so far that more than 50 percent of the countries studied have some kind of infant hearing test in place. Many of these tests, however, were not up to the standards seen in Western countries. The researchers are still waiting on the data from several countries.
Although the study has yet to be completed, the researchers reported finding one factor that appeared to affect the quality of a country's screening test. The team found that in countries where the government had a larger regulatory role, the screenings tests were relatively better.
The researchers stressed the importance of improving these screening tests so that infants with hearing conditions can get treatment as soon as possible. Neumann stated that ideally, treatment for infants with hearing impairments should begin within the first six-months of life.
"It is incredibly important to detect hearing impairments at an early stage," Neumann, who is the head of the department of phoniatrics and pedaudiology at the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Bochum, Germany, explained. "If a hearing impairment is not recognized and treated during this sensitive phase, the result will always remain deficient - no matter how well we provide for the affected children afterwards."
She added, in the news release, "In specialist circles, hearing impairments are often referred to as the hidden disease, because the disorder attracts only little attention. This is what I wish to change."
Neumann hopes to standardize infant hearing screening tests worldwide with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"The question which disorders attract attention on an international level is to a great extent influenced by the focus of the World Health Organization WHO," she said.
Neumann has been gathering data since 2007.
