Progressive Hearing Loss in Hard-of-Hearing Children

A group of 92 children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss has been followed up over a period of up to 15 years from the time that an initial reliable audiogram was obtained. This group was studied in order to determine the frequency of occurrence of progressive hearing loss and the relationship of the progressive to the presumed etiology of hearing loss. Progression of hearing loss was demonstrated in 21 children out of the 92 children studied. This progression of hearing loss was either bilateral or unilateral, and no evident relationship could be found between the presumed etiology of hearing loss and its progressivity.