Prevalence of Hearing Impairment in the Medinipur Sadar Subdivision, Paschim Medinipore District, West Bengal, India

A cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the prevalence of hearing impairment among the sample population at a given point in time in Medinipur Sadar Subdivision, Paschim Medinipore District. The current research recruited 700 respondents from this subdivision were used in the data collection. The procedure adopted included interviews, questionnaires, and physical examination at Audiology Division of Midnapore Rehabilitation Centre for Children, Midnapore. Out of the 700 respondents, 103 (representing 14.71 %) were diagnosed as having significant hearing impairments. Findings showed majority of the respondents was men than women had mild hearing loss with occurrence of conductive hearing impairment more than other types of hearing impairment. Presbycusis and noise were the major causes of the sensorineural hearing impairment. Ear wax, otitis media, and noise induce factors were the other frequent causes of hearing impairment. These findings have significant implications on the need of resource development for prevention and rehabilitation.