Mobile Hearing Screening in a Rural Community School in Ghana

Authors

  • Anthony M. Denkyirah (Author) Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA image/svg+xml
    Anthony Mensah Denkyirah (Ph.D.). Anthony Denkyirah teaches special education courses in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), IL USA. He received his bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Cape Coast-Ghana in 1985, and a master’s degree (1995) and PhD in special education (2003), respectively, from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL USA. In the summer of 2015, Dr. Denkyirah spent three months at the University of Education Winneba (UEW) in Ghana as a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Scholar to support UEW faculty in curricular development activities for transition planning programs for students with special needs, single systems research design strategies and parental involvement in special education and community-based rehabilitation.
  • Yaw Nyadu Offei (Author) University of Education, Winneba-Ghana image/svg+xml
    Yaw Nyadu Offei (Ph.D.). Dr. Yaw Nyadu Offei is an audiologist and a senior lecturer in the Department of Special Education at the University of Education Winneba (UEW). He received his bachelor’s degree in special education from UEW (1998), a master’s degree from Universality of Cape Coast–Ghana (2003), a master of science in audiology from the University College, London, UK (2006) and a Ph.D in audiology from University of Cologne, Germany (2013). Dr. Offei is currently the director/coordinator for the Center for Hearing and Speech Services at UEW and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in audiology, and the education of learners with deafness and hearing impairments.
  • Emmanuel K. Acheampong (Author) University of Education, Winneba-Ghana
    Emmanuel Kwasi Acheampon g Emmanuel is a lecturer in the Department of Special Education, University of Education, Winneba. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of philosophy degree in special education from the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. Mr. Acheampong was formerly coordinator for the Center for Hearing and Speech Services and now heads the Community-Based Rehabilitation and Disability Studies program at UEW. His teaching and research interests include preparation of personnel for the education of children with hearing impairments and professional practitioners in community-based rehabilitation, aural rehabilitation, deafness and early intervention studies, school-based screening services, and audiological service delivery within health and educational settings.
https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.383
Hearing screening in public schools is not common practice in developing countries like Ghana. Yet, the World Health Organization (WHO) (2012) reported that 90% of children with hearing problems live in developing countries. This study was conducted in a rural community in the Central Region of Ghana to find out (a) hearing problems among students in rural community schools, (b) accessibility to hearing screening facilities in rural communities, and (c) benefits mobile hearing screening services could bring to people in rural communities in Ghana. Two hundred forty students from a public high school that served about 7 neighboring rural communities were randomly selected for otoscopy examination and pure tone hearing screening tests. One hundred sixty-five of the students passed both otoscopy examinations and pure tone hearing screening tests while 75 of the subjects failed both tests. Recommendations made included regular school-based hearing screening for all students, and increased access to mobile hearing screening in rural communities.

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There are 24 references in total.
Denkyirah, A. M., Offei, Y. N., & Acheampong, E. K. (2019). Mobile Hearing Screening in a Rural Community School in Ghana. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 14(1), 30-40. https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.383

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  • Article Type Articles
  • Submitted December 24, 2018
  • Published February 15, 2019
  • Issue Winter 2019
  • Section Articles
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