Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2020 Oct 7;20(1):1521.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09620-6.

The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study

Jiunn-Yih Su  1   2 , Steven Guthridge  3 , Vincent Yaofeng He  3 , Damien Howard  4 , Amanda Jane Leach  5
Affiliations
Observational Study

The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study

Jiunn-Yih Su et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of otitis media (OM) and related hearing loss has remained persistently high among some groups of Australian Aboriginal children who are also reported to have poor academic outcomes. The general literature remains inconclusive about the association between OM-related hearing loss and academic performance in primary school. This study aimed to investigate this association in Aboriginal children living in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia.

Methods: A retrospective, observational cohort study was conducted for 2208 NT Aboriginal children, aged about 8 years, living in remote and very remote communities. The explanatory variable was audiometrically determined hearing level as recorded in the Remote Hearing Assessment dataset. The outcome variable consisted of scale scores in the five domains of the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Year 3. Other linked datasets used in the study included school attendance records, perinatal records and community level information on relative remoteness, socioeconomic disadvantage and housing crowdedness. Fixed effects linear regression models were used for statistical analyses.

Results: Compared with children with normal hearing and after controlling for a range of covariates, children with mild hearing impairment (HI) scored lower in Writing and Spelling by 15.0 points (95% CI: - 22.4 to - 7.6, p < 0.0005) and 5.0 points (95% CI: - 9.6 to - 0.3, p = 0.037), equivalent to 7.3 and 2.1% of the mean score, respectively. Children with moderate or worse HI scored lower in Writing and Numeracy by 13.4 points (95% CI, - 24.8 to - 1.9, p = 0.022) and 15.2 points (95% CI, - 27.6 to - 2.7, p = 0.017), both equivalent to 6.3% of the mean score the respective domain. Other factors associated with poorer NAPLAN results included being male, lower Year 2 school attendance, low birthweight, average household size> 5 persons, living in a very remote community and speaking English as a second language.

Conclusions: OM-related HI was independently associated with poorer early year academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote NT communities. Interventions to improve academic outcomes for Aboriginal children must incorporate actions to address the negative impact associated with HI through early detection, effective treatment and ongoing support for affected children.

Keywords: Aboriginal children; Academic achievement; Conductive hearing loss; Data linkage; NAPLAN; Otitis media.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Processes of dataset merging and study cohort (shaded) selection
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Klein JO. The burden of otitis media. Vaccine. 2000;19(Supplement 1):S2–S8. doi: 10.1016/S0264-410X(00)00271-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Williams CJ, Coates HL, Pascoe EM, Axford Y, Nannup I. Middle ear disease in Aboriginal children in Perth: analysis of hearing screening data, 1998-2004. Med J Aust. 2009;190(10):598–600. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02576.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Winskel H. The effects of an early history of otitis media on children's language and literacy skill development. Br J Educ Psychol. 2006;76(Pt 4):727–744. doi: 10.1348/000709905X68312. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Moeller MP, Tomblin JB, Yoshinaga-Itano C, Connor CM, Jerger S. Current state of knowledge: language and literacy of children with hearing impairment. Ear Hear. 2007;28(6):740–753. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0b013e318157f07f. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Walker N, Wigglesworth G. The effect of conductive hearing loss on phonological awareness, reading and spelling on urban Aboriginal students. Aust New Zeal J Audiol. 2001;23(1):37–51. doi: 10.1375/audi.23.1.37.31097. - DOI

Publication types