Whisper test – Mass hearing screening programme

Aims and Objectives: To screen the school going mass for hearing loss and study its relationship with their academic performance and aptitude and compare it with pure tone audiometry and validate whisper test. Material and Methods: Procedure- Examiner stands arm distance (60cm) behind the patient. Mask the non-test ear by occluding the external auditory canal by continuously generating rubbing sound. The patient is explained to repeat the words. Test always started with consonants followed by vowels. If more than 80% were correct it was treated as passed. Results: In our study out of 86 students, 8 children failed in whisper test, but all passed in conversation test. In the present study performance was poor in failed students. The incidence of day dream, learning difficulty, inattentiveness was high with hearing impaired children. Conclusion: The whisper test is a simple effective diagnostic and mass hearing screening test which can predict an early hearing loss and if performed by a trained paramedical or social worker can differentiate in conductive, sensorineural, cochlear, and retrocochlear lesion. Since the whisper test does not require a qualified audiologist or otolaryngologist, it should be be a part of annual health check-up and national programme of prevention and control of deafness specifically hearing care in the elderly.