Downs syndrom och hörselnedsättning – En populationsstudie

Abstract

There is a wide range of prevalence figures when it comes to Down syndrome and hearing loss, varying between 2 % and 81 % in earlier studies. There are different theories as to the cause of hearing loss, such as middle ear pathology and age.

The aim of this study was to investigate different aspects of hearing loss in association with Down syndrome in the Swedish population.

The data analysed consisted of 83 females and 119 males with confirmed Down syndrome between the ages of 8 to 67 years. Different aspects with focus on the prevalence, type, degree of hearing loss and difference based on age and gender amongst the participants were studied.

Our results show that hearing loss was present in 64,6 % of the ears, whereby the majority had a mild hearing loss. Binaural hearing loss was observed in 57,5 % of the participants. Whether the results are an indication of early age-related hearing loss cannot be confirmed because there was not enough information to analyze the type of hearing loss. However, it was observed that persons with Down syndrome exhibit high frequency hearing loss from an early age.