The Incidence and Importance of Hearing Loss in People with Severe Learning Disability: The Evolution of a Service

This is the third and final report on a study of the hearing of people with severe learning disability in Lewisham and North Southwark. The previous two reports were published in this journal, Volume 17: 33–7 and Volume 20: 126–33. The initial report on a sample of 100 people caused concern by implicating a greater prevalence of hearing loss than most previous work had shown. It was then possible to set up a research project to test the validity of initial results. An intermediate report published after the examination of 300 subjects gave similar results. Approximately 50% of the learning disabled population in Lewisham and North Southwark i.e. 500 people, have now been tested and this paper confirms the findings and stresses the importance of full audiological examination at key ages. In view of this a service has now been established in order to test the remaining people wherever possible, supervise those already found to have a hearing loss and, most importantly, to train all concerned in caring for the learning disabled who also have a hearing loss.