15% of Kids with Hearing Loss? Not So Fast

Two studies about hearing loss are filled with errors and overestimate how many children have it, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota. The studies in question support the idea that about 15% of children have some kind of noise-induced hearing loss. But the University of Minnesota researchers say that figure could be off by as much as 10 percentage points. Professor Bert Schlauch, who led the new study, quesitons the use of beeps to test hearing, suggesting the placement of headphones among other conditions could throw off the results. Schlauch says his own study of marching-band members found 15% hearing loss on a first test. But followup tests showed no problem for most of these same band members. His team went further to inspect studies that have been published in the journal Pediatrics and the Journal of the American Medical Association. They found the same results. Details are in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.