Journal of Phonetics & Audiology
Open Access

Abstract

Tympanometric and TOAEs Results of Kuwaiti School Children with Down Syndrome

Aseel Al-Meqbel

Objective: Conductive hearing loss is one of the most common disabilities in children with Down Syndrome (DS). The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the results from tympanometry and transient otoacoustic emissions (TOAEs) in children with DS in special schools.
Methods: We investigated the results of tympanometry and TOAEs testing for a group of 57 children with DS aged 7.1-16.2 years.
Results: Type A tympanograms were found in 4 participants, type C1 in 2 participants, type C2 in 15 participants, and type B in 33 participants. TOAE was present in six and absent in 48 participants.
Conclusion: A combination of tympanometry and TOAE is a fast, efficient and objective evaluation of middle ear and outer hair cell functions in children with DS. This test battery successfully examined over 80% of the children with mild to moderate intellectual impairment, who would be difficult to test using behavioral methods