Hearing Loss and Cleft Palate

Abstract

There is general agreement among authorities (5, 13, 19, 23) that there is a higher incidence of hearing loss in the cleft palate population than in the noncleft palate population; however, reports of the incidence of hear— ing loss of the cleft palate population vary widely. The reported incidence of hearing loss among cleft palate groups has ranged from 3% (25) to 90% (23). Table 1 presents the results of some of the investigations and indicates the number and age of subjects and the various criteria used for definition of hearing loss. There are several possible reasons for these differences among reports. As Hayes (11) has suggested, variations in hearing loss incidence data for cleft palate subjects may be due to such deficiencies and inconsist— encies in research methodology as: a) inadequate sampling methods; b) different definitions of hearing loss; c) poor testing conditions; and, d) intergroup differences among the cleft palate populations studied with respect to the type of cleft, type of management (surgical or prosthetic), and age of subjects. Several authorities (6, 25, 28) indicate that a relationship exists be— tween the incidence of hearing loss among cleft palate individuals and age. In general, a greater incidence of hearing loss has been found among cleft palate children than among cleft palate adults. Some studies have yielded data suggesting a possible relationship be— tween the type of cleft and the incidence of hearing losses associated with cleft palate. Masters and others (1 '7) and Spriestersbach and others (25) report that the highest incidence of hearing loss is found in groups with clefts of the hard and soft palates. Spriestersbach and others (25) stated, however, that the differences regarding the incidence of hearing loss and type of cleft defect observed in their study and in the study by Masters and associates were not significant when statistical tests were applied to the data. On the other hand, Drettner (3) found that individ— uals with cleft lip and palate have a higher incidence of hearing loss than do patients with clefts of the palate only. Since the available data appear to be contradictory, the relationship between the incidence of hearing loss and the type of cleft is not clear. There is a need for further investigation in this area. There is by no means universal agreement among investigators regarding the effect of prosthetic and surgical palatal repair on hearing in cleft Miss Pannbacker is Lecturer, Department of Speech Communication, State Uni— versity of New York at Buffalo. 50