Hearing Impairment in a Tertiary Hospital in the Niger Delta Region: Prevalence, Aetiology and Pattern
Ibekwe Matilda Uju *
Department of Ear Nose and Throat Surgery, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: This study is to determine the prevalence, causes, types and patterns of hearing impairment seen in a tertiary hospital in the Niger delta region.
Study Design: A hospital based descriptive study of all patients with complaints of hearing impairment seen at the ear nose and throat clinic of the university of Port Harcourt teaching hospital within the period of January 2015 to December 2019.
Results: Bilateral affectation was commoner among those that have hearing impairment n = 366(65.2%) 91.2% while n = 54(8.8%) was found to have normal hearing. Majority of the ears had profound degree of hearing loss n= 313 (25.4%) with the highest number of it found in the right ear 27.0% however, there is no statistical significance between the side of the ear affected and the degree of hearing loss.
Conclusion: The young adults are the most affected; age 30-39 years with bilateral affectation and profound degree of hearing loss. Infective conditions such as CSOM are still very predominant in the aetiology of hearing loss in our environment.
Keywords: Hearing impairment, hearing loss, aetiology, Nigeria, audiometry.