Hearing impairment in adults with intellectual disability

Background People with intellectual disabilities (PwID) are prone to suffer from hearing impairment (HI). Special Olympics^® (SO) is the largest international Sports program for PwID and offers preventive healthcare during sports events and events especially designed for the healthcare program. The SO Healthy Hearing program offers audiological screening examinations whose results allow a more precise impression of the actual hearing status of PwID in Germany.

Methods In this retrospective descriptive study, the data of 1014 PwID aged 18 to 59 years who underwent screening examinations in the years 2015-2017 was analyzed. The collected data related to the self-assessed hearing ability, the otoscopic status as well as objective (distortion product otoacoustic emissions and tympanometry) and subjective (screening audiometry) audiological measures.

Results In 33,4% of all probands a hearing disorder was detected. In 55,4% of all probands a partial or total obstruction of the external ear canal was revealed. The comparison with the general population showed—depending on age—an increased prevalence of HI of 7 to 18%. Most of the probands were not aware of their HI.

Conclusions These results provide an insight into the actual state of knowledge of the hearing ability of PwID and reveal major disparities compared to the general population. A severe problem for PwID is an obstruction of the external ear canal and a HI. Reasons for this might be that healthcare services are either unavailable or not sufficiently utilized. To improve this state, increased sensitization of PwIDs regarding their hearing ability as well as specialized education of medical employees and caregivers are necessary. Furthermore, a systematic healthcare screening program for PwID is needed.

Poster-PDF A-1484.PDF

Publication History

Article published online:
10 June 2020