Objectives: The current study was performed to establish the prevalence rate of hearing disorders in school age children.
Method: This study has been performed in a randomized manner among 1000 school-age children (500 girls and 500 boys) in the years between1976-1997 in Behbehan. All subjects underwent Audiometric evaluations, Otoscopy, and impedance audiometry. Additionally, parents, children and teachers were interviewed or asked by questionnaires regarding the familial status of parents, familial history of any hearing loss and the awareness of suffering hearing loss. The findings have been prepared in the charts and tables and the relationship between age and gender of the subjects with the incidence of hearing loss has been evaluated via the statistical test X² and hearing loss in left and right ear was compared by T-test.
Results: the findings demonstrated that 6.6% of the subjects suffered hearing loss in one ear (2.2%) or both ears (4.3%). 4.8% of the patients suffered conductive hearing loss while 1.6% suffered sensory-neural hearing loss. In .2% patients complained different types of hearing loss in the ears. Hearing loss was mostly slight and the relationship between age and gender with the incidence of hearing loss was not statistically significant.
Conclusion: Based on the findings we have concluded that in18.4% of the subjects, medical treatment was required and 0.7% of them were in need of rehabilitation. The percentage of the awareness of the hearing disorders among children, parents and teachers was 21.2%, 22.7% and 15.2% respectively.

Objective:Determining the prevalence of hearing loss and correlated factors in clients referring to audiology clinic of Buali hospital.
Method and Material: This cross-sectional analytic-descriptive survery was carried out on six thousand and twenty ears of 3010 clients (1651 ,ae amd 1359 female) in Audiology clinic of Buali hospital , during Sept 2000 to Sept 2001.
Results: Hearing loss is the most common reason for referring the clients (20.5%). 1319 ears (21.9%) Showed sensorineural hearing impairment and conductive and mixed hearing loss are observed in 1059 (17.6%) and 234 (3.9%) ears, respectedly. Hearing loss degree most cases is mild (14%) in both ears. There is no significant difference between male and female hearing threshold means (p>0.05) ‘ but a significant difference between hearing thresholds is observed in terms of age (p<0.05). Audiogram configuration in most cases is flat (55.1%). Otoscopic examination reveals abnormal condition in 2333 ears (38.8%) . 37.2% of the studied cases have abnormal tympanogram mostly type B (15.9%). 2.2% of the clients wear hearing aid that mostly have B.T.E ones (1.5%). 6.2% of the clients , depends on their hearing impairment type and degree need rehabilitation services.
Conclusion: The results are Valid only in the context of this study and it&aposs generaliztion needs further researches.

Background and Aim: Reading is undoubtedly an essential skill for everybody in these years. Reading disorders or dyslexia can cause several problems for those who suffer from them. Early assessment and diagnosis play an important role in treatment of this disorder. The main aim of this study was determining the prevalence of reading disorder in first to fifth grade elementary school students. The subbasic aim was introducing the screening Inventory Reading Test (IRT) for diagnosis of the Students with reading disorder at elementary schools.

Methods: A total of 200 students (boys and girls) in five elementary education grades in Isfahan were selected through multi-stage random sampling method and assessed by IRT in 2008. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Software package version 13.0 for Windows.

Results: This survey revealed the highest prevalence of reading disorder in the first grade male students (25%), and the lowest in fifth grade female students (0%). The incidence of dyslexia in all grades generally was 10%. The overall incidence was 66% for male students and 34% for female students.

Conclusion: Reading disorder is more prevalent among male students than female students and the Inventory Reading Test is a satisfactory tool for rapid diagnosis of reading disorder.

Background and Aim: Hearing impairment is the most prevalent sensorineural defect in human. Epidemiological studies and the following preventive programs are the first steps to save many individuals from being handicapped and non-productive. Hereby, we aimed to study the prevalence of hearing impairment in Ardabil province and to assess the prevalent causes of hearing impairment in Ardabil.
Methods: In this study, 10718 cases were selected by random cluster sampling from rural and urban population in Ardabil province. Data was gathered using screening questionnaire, normal- and impaired-hearing individual questionnaire, and clinical audiometry. Statistical indices were calculated and data was analyzed using chi-square test.
Results: 7.1 per thousand individuals suffer hearing impairment and 4.3 per thousand are deaf. Hearing impairment was significantly more among villagers and aged individuals (p=0.46). However, there was no significant deference between two genders (p>0.05). Our results also showed significant deference in consanguineous marriage (p=0.031), accidents in pregnancy (p=0.007), older age of mother (p=0.007), parents hearing loss, severe illness during childhood (p=0.001), low family income (p=0.004), rural housing and educational level of parents (p=0.001) with hearing impairment.
Conclusion: Health status, economical, cultural and educational level of society are the most important factors associated with hearing impairment in Ardabil province. Consequently, extensive preventive programs are required to limit such factors.

Background and Aim: Having healthy non-handicapped children plays a major role in mental health of the family and decreases family and society&aposs costs. While consanguineous marriage could lead to expression of recessive genes and a variety of handicaps including deafness, the aim of present study was to scrutinize the prevalence of consanguineous marriage among parents of deaf and normal children as well as its relationship with deafness.
Methods: In this study, 467 couples parenting normal children were selected by cluster sampling from elementary, guidance and high schools of Ardabil city and 423 couples parenting disabled children were selected non-randomly among which 130 had deaf children. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the prevalence of consanguineous marriage and chi-square test to compare prevalence of consanguineous marriage among parents of normal and deaf children.
Results: Descriptive analyses showed that 80 out of 130 (61.54%) parents who had deaf children have had consanguineous marriage. Furthermore data analysis demonstrated that prevalence of consanguineous marriage was significantly higher among parents of deaf children (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Consanguineous marriage plays a major role in expression of recessive genes and could lead to development of various handicaps including deafness. Increasing couples&apos awareness about consequences of consanguineous marriage and conducting genetic counseling are indispensable.