Balance performance in children with unilateral and bilateral severe-to-profound-grade hearing impairment

The objective of this study was to investigate the balance performance in a cohort of children with severe to profound grade hearing impairment. Twenty-eight children (14 girls) aged 6 to 11 years old who had unilateral (6) or bilateral (22) severe to profound grade sensorineural hearing impairment were assessed using the BruininkseOseretsky test of Motor Proficiency (BOT2), Pediatric Functional Reach Test (FRT), Pediatric Version of Clinical Test for Sensory Interaction of Balance (P-CTSIB), Test of Postrotary Nystagmus (PRN). Parental functional concern was also collected. Friedman test was used to compare the performances in the 5 subtests of BOT2. Spearman test was used to assess the correlation between balance subtest of BOT2 with the other administered tests. These children showed significantly worse performance in balance subtest as compared to the other 4 subtests in BOT2. Their balance performance (BOT2) was significantly correlated to the performance in P-CTSIB with vision absent, vision inaccurate, somatosensory inaccurate and vestibular accurate. Their balance performance was also correlated to their performance in bilateral coordination. The clinical implication is that balance assessments should be included as a routine procedure for early detection of dysfunctions in hearing impaired children, so as to guide the formulation of appropriate interventions. Copyright (C) 2013, Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Ltd. Published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.