PO-0915 Therapeutic Options For Conductive Hearing Loss In Children With Cleft Palate

Abstract

Background and aim Cleft lip and palate is a common congenital malformation correlated with otological disorders like Eustachian tube dysfunction, otitis media with effusion and conductive hearing loss correlated with speech disorders. Methods In our study we evaluate the therapeutic options for the conductive hearing loss in these children, such as: middle ear ventilation tube insertion, hearing aids and adenoidectomy. We conducted a retrospective chart review on 19 patients who underwent last follow-up during 2013, aged between 1 and 16, affected by cleft palate. We identified 3 cases of Treacher-Collins syndrome, 2 cases of CHARGE syndrome, 2 case sof Pierre Robin, 1 case of Goldhenar and 1 case of Di George syndrome. In 9 cases the cleft palate was isolated. In 14 cases we conducted phoniatric and logopaedic evaluations and 10 of these showed a speech disorder. Results We found a conductive hearing loss in 12 of the 19 children.2 of these patients used hearing aids with an improvementof speech performance; 1 patient underwent adenoidectomy for the appearance of sleep apnea but he modified his quality of voice with hypernasality and nasal emission after surgery; finally 9 children had spontaneous resolution of otitis media with effusion. Conclusions In conclusion we found that the more effective way to resolve the problem of conductive hearing loss and the resulting speech disorder is to use the hearing aids until the resolution of the hearing loss, which normally occurs around 7 years old.