Abstract
Health screenings are mandated for school-aged children throughout their academic years, including those with an individualized education plan (IEP). The school nurse completes health assessments as part of the IEP. These assessments include a routine pure tone hearing screening, which school nurses can implement since they have obtained their school audiometrist certification. However, in many cases, they cannot condition most IEP students to the test task because many of them cannot understand the concept of raising their hand when they hear a beeping sound. The study aims to determine whether using a DPOAE screener among IEP students yields more results and is more time-efficient than using a pure tone screener during a school nurse health assessment.
A MAICO MA-25 portable screening audiometer with TDH 39 was used to conduct a pure tone screener, and GSI Corti was used to perform a distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) screener. The pure tone screener assessed 1,2, and 4 kHz, and the DPOAE screener assessed 1.5, 2,3,4,5, and 6 kHz. Each student's time elapsed for screening was measured using an iPhone or an iWatch timer. The results demonstrated that the DPOAE screening allowed more IEP students to be tested with more passes and fewer "could not condition" results compared to pure tone screening. There was a significant difference in screening duration between the two tests. Pure tone screening took less time to administer than the DPOAE screening, which rejected the study's hypothesis. There was a correlation between the students who were in higher grades and completed the screener faster; however, the DPOAE screening did not correlate because it is an objective test.
Overall, the research highlights the benefit of school nurses using a DPOAE screening as an alternative screening with IEP students when completing their health assessments. This implies supplementary information for communicating with parents and the IEP team about the student's hearing, which correlates to student success.