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SPECIAL POPULATIONS
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Hearing Loss and Middle-Ear
—
Abnormalities in a Group of
Marshallese Children
By MARC LERNER, SHARON FUJIKAWA, & WILLIAM H. ADAMS
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nder contract to the United States
Department of Energy, medical
tears directed by New York’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have conducted an observation, in a unique
fashion, of the health of a groupof chil-
dren in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Previous publications have noted
a large numberof ear problems among
children from Micronesia,’*? but no
study to date had used audiometry and
impedance measurements to document
that information. Asa part of a visit to
medical team from Brookhaven National
Laboratory tested the hearing and
eardrum impedanceof a group ofproject
children. With the growing recognition
of the importance of hearing to the developmentof languageskills and learnIng Capacity, such testing was seen as
and the Mariana Islands make up the
Pacific archipelago of Micronesia.
Currently, medical care on mostatolls
is administered by resident health aides
whoare provided by the Governmentof
the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Health Services. A combination of mobile and stationary units house the
healthcare facilities. More in-depth medical care for children on someatolls is
provided by physicians of the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the
tered over 300,000 square miles of ocean.
There are 35,000 inhabitants of the
Marshalls. A primary population concentration—some 8000 persons—is on the
island of Ebeye, a part of the Kwajalein
atoll. Another 15,000 live on the Majuro
atoll. The Marshall Islands, the Caroline,
government of the Marshall Islands via
stationary sites and a medically equipped
ship.
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ormPacihe Ucean
SAN. FRANCISCO
Marc Lerner, MD, FAAP is Assistant
Professor, Department of Pediatrics and
Medical Director of Neonatal Clinics,
University of California/Irvine. Sharon
Fujikawa, PhD, CCCis Assistant Adjunct
Professor, Department of Neonatology,
Division of Otolaryngology/Head and
Neck Surgery and Director of the Audiology Clinic, University of California/
Irvine. William H. Adams, MD is with
the Brookhaven National Laboratory
a ee
Medical Department, Upton, NY. CorTéspondence to Dr. Lerner, Department
of Pediatrics, University of California/
Irvine Medical Center, Route 81, 101 The
City Drive South, Orange, CA 92668.
VOL. 42 NO. 8
SGP
2885
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ve he
the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a
important in understanding the possible
vulnerability of those children.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands
consists of 29 coral atolls and five
mountain-top islands located in the Pacific Ocean approximately 2500 miles
southwest of Hawaii. The small islands
total a mere 70 square milesof land scat-
.
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Geographic representation of the location of the Marshall Islands.
THE HEARING JOURNAL/AUGUST1989
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