School-based screening
(article) Referral criteria for school-based hearing screening in South-Africa:
Considerations for resource-limited context

Source: Scielo.org.za <-- see full article

Referral criteria for school-based hearing screening in South-Africa:
Considerations for resource-limited context

in: Health SA Gesondheid (Online) vol. 21 n.1 Cape Twon 2016
by: Faheema Mahomed-Asmail, De Wet Swanepoel, Robert H. Eikelboom
Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa

School-based hearing screening is likely to be the first opportunity to identify childhood hearing loss in South Africa. Criteria for school-based hearing screening requires balancing the targeted degree of hearing loss while ensuring that referral rates are sufficiently low for a cost-effective and sustainable programme. The study aim was to investigate the effect of screening intensity (loudness) levels on the referral rate and to establish the effect of an immediate rescreen in reducing the referral rate. 

CONCLUSION: A screening intensity of 25 dB HL and immediate rescreen reduces the referral rate significantly and will limit the burden of the screening programme on health care resources