Objective: The objective of this study was to provide the first national representative values for mean and median hearing thresholds among US children 6 to 19 yrs of age.
Methods: Hearing thresholds were obtained from 6166 children in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988 to 1994), a national, population-based cross-sectional survey with household interview and audiometric testing at 0.5 to 8 kHz. Means, medians, and standard errors of the mean were obtained and reported by ear, frequency, sex, and age.
Results: The mean and median thresholds ranged from 3.0 to 11.8 dB HL and -1.0 to 10.8 dB HL, respectively. The highest (poorest) thresholds were obtained at test frequencies above 4000 Hz. Similar mean and median thresholds were found between boys and girls at all frequencies.
Conclusions: These data indicate that the mean thresholds fall below the standard screening guidelines recommended by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (< or =20 dB HL for the frequencies from 1000< or =20 dB HL for the frequencies from 2000, and 4000 Hz). The results of this study suggest the need to include the test frequency of 6000 Hz in screening protocols for children.