Identification of children with hearing impairment in pre-primary schools in Tanzania

Abstract

The study investigated the identification of children with hearing impairment in pre-primary schools in Tanzania using 44 participants from four purposively selected schools. The objective of the study was to assess the methods and ways used to identify children with hearing impairment in pre-primary schools. The study employed documentary review and semi-structured interview as data collection methods. Results revealed that children with hearing impairment were identified at home by their parents or at school by teachers and fellow children. Teachers and parents used different local ways of identifying hearing loss in their children. The study further revealed congenital conditions, medications, diseases and infections and maternal condition as major causes of hearing loss among children in Tanzania. Hence, for clarity and uniformity, there is a need to develop a national guideline on hearing loss detection at school level.