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[Physical growth of children and youth with hearing impairment].

AIM
The aim of the study was to assess physical growth of children and youth with hearing impairments.


MATERIAL AND METHODS
The material comprised anthropometric measurements (body height and body mass) and data from questionnaires collected from 186 children (87 girls and 99 boys) aged 10-16 years, with defective hearing. The subjects attended two Specialist Schools for Deaf Children and Youth in Wroclaw and Cracow (Poland). Based on extended medical questionnaires, information of hearing defects (hypoacusia or deafness) and their etiology (hereditary, congenital or post-natally acquired) were obtained. The measurements were standardized to the mean value and to the standard deviation of the control group of children from Warsaw.


RESULTS
The standardized values of somatic traits of the subjects revealed deficient stature and body mass in children with defective hearing (Z=-0.54, Z=-0.18, respectively). The children with light and severe impairments of hearing manifested similar level of growth.


CONCLUSIONS
Lower level of physical growth in children with hearing impairment is caused by the defect together with unfavourable socio-economic conditions of the subjects' families. The tendency of the highest body height deficiencies was observed to occur in the group of children with a hearing defect acquired after birth.