Authors:
Enoch A. Dahilo; David F. Folorunso; Ikeoluwa E. Omosule; Akinyode A. Gbenga. Corresponding author:
Dr. Enoch Auta Dahilo
KEYWORDS: Hearing impairment, audiometry and SNHL, CHL.
Abstract
Background: According to the World Health Organization, 1.5 billion people worldwide currently live with hearing loss. This concern triggered this study in our environment so that we can design policies that can build capacity for specialist audiology and speech therapist training and research.
Objective: To determine the demographic patterns of patients referred to the audiology clinic with clinical suspicion of hearing loss from the Ear Nose and Throat Clinic of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada.
Method: A 10-year retrospective study was carried out from the records of the audiology unit of the ear, nose, and throat (ENT) clinic of UATH. The records of patients managed from 2012 to 2022 by the audiology unit were obtained. Audiometry findings of all audiologic tests done in a standard soundproof booth by the same audiologist over the years with a duly calibrated audiometer were obtained.
Results: A total of 297 patients met the inclusion criteria. There were 146(48.7%) males and 151(50.3%) females, with a M:F ratio of 0.9:1. The mean age was 37.8±19.1 years. The age ranged from 3 to 94 years with a median age of 35 years. The age group 41-50 years, which was the 5th decade, had sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) as the most common hearing loss in the study.
Conclusion: SNHL was the most common hearing loss in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja