Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2023 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back
Rate ePoster

Pediatric Otolaryngology

(232) Hearing Screening Disparities in Minnesota Schools

Monday, October 2, 2023
2:45 PM – 3:45 PM East Coast USA Time
Has Audio
Disclosure(s):
Autefeh S. Sajjadi, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Nicholas Hable, MPH: No relevant relationships to disclose.


Introduction: Standardization of newborn hearing screening improved equity in access to hearing healthcare at the newborn level. Unfortunately, the lack of standardization at the school screening level has exacerbated inequities in access to hearing screening as care is currently distributed based on the local resources of the school. In fact, 50% of 9-year old’s with educationally significant hearing loss passed their newborn hearing screen and approximately 14% of school-aged children have permanent and/or transient hearing loss in one or both ears.

Methods: Prospective surveys were conducted March-June 2023 of all elementary schools in the two most populous counties in Minnesota (Hennepin and Ramsey County) of current hearing screening practices. Standardized hearing screen was defined as hearing screens being performed on all students in a grade. Schools that performed hearing screens on students in only special education, individualized education program (IEP) or per parent/teacher requests were not considered standardized.

Results: 315 schools met inclusion criteria (81.9% response rate, RR); 151 public schools (100% RR), 72 charter schools (60% RR), 92 private schools (70% RR). Of the 258 schools that responded, 154 had a standardized hearing screen, 103 did not. Only twelve schools (4.7%) screened all students, and fifteen schools (5.8%) had no screenings. 171 (54%) were in zip-codes with median household income below the county average; 47% of these schools had standardized hearing screen compared to 51% of schools in zip codes greater than the county average. Ultimately, 89% of all schools that responded expressed interest in a pilot program providing free hearing screens to students in grades 1, 3 and 5.

Conclusions: The lack of hearing screening standardization further exacerbates inequities in hearing healthcare at the elementary school level. Access to school hearing screenings should not be dependent on the school type or school zip code. Our preliminary data results demonstrate a need for standardized hearing screens with 89% of schools expressing interest in participating in additional hearing screening.