An Assessment of the Most Common Visual & Hearing Disorders in 14-18 Year Old High School Male Students at Shaheed Beheshti Medical University Educational Catchment Areas, Tehran - Iran in 2005-2006

Teenagers and the youth are the future parents and the authorities of tomorrow; therefore, their health status is of great importance and must be taken into consideration to prevent other forthcoming problems. The main purpose of this study was to assess the most common hearing & visual disorders of 14-18 year old high school male students in Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services Educational Catchment Areas, Tehran- Iran in 2005-2006. This is a descriptive & cross - sectional research. In this study 216 boys aged 14 to 18 years, in grades one to three, were randomly selected from high schools,. The type of sampling used for the present study was multistage sampling. The subjects were then assessed for the existence of visual and hearing disorders. The data collection tools were a questionnaire, observation record sheets, Snellen chart, whisper test and 512 and 1024 Hz diapason. The findings of the study revealed that 20.1% of the students with glasses had reduced visual acuity in the right eye, 15.1% of them showed the disorder in their left eye and 11.5% had it in both eyes. However, in the students without glasses, 41.2% of them had reduced visual acuity in the right eye, 47% in the left eye and 29.4% in both eyes. Also, as for the type of disorder, 21.3% of the subjects had astigmatism in one or both eyes; 17.1% showed evident strabismus; but none of the students was found to be suffering from colour blindness. Regarding the hearing status, the findings showed that 4.2% of the students who were subjected to the whisper test, were found to have hearing loss in one or both ears. Based on tuning fork tests, 88.9% of the subjects had conductive and 11.1% of them were affected with sensoryneural hearing loss. Malnutrition, students’ inappropriate growth environment including insufficient use of proper light, and parents’ neglecting to provide good care for them may be some of the causes of such disorders. Finally, the results of this study suggest the importance of hearing & visual health for the students.