The hearing profile among learners in schools in the Western Cape, South Africa

SummaryThe hearing profile amongst school learners in the Western Cape was investigated. The University of Cape Town's hearing-screening programme at 11 primary schools (n = 1101) was audited and revealed a 13.8% referral rate amongst school-aged children. The possible effects of environmental noise on hearing-screening performance at 500 Hz was investigated. When the hearing-screening results at 500 Hz were excluded from the audit, the referral rate was reduced from 13.8% to 7.9%. The referral rate for hearing-screening failures amongst the learners in the sample was towards the high end of the range for developing countries (3.3–13.9%). More learners had unilateral than bilateral hearing failures while laterality, gender and geographical differences were minimal. This high referral rate suggests a strong need for hearing-screening of the school-aged population.