A study of children in the western Arctic found 67% of
Inuit children had some degree of hearing loss. By some estimates 20 to 30% of
Inuit children with middle ear infections suffer hearing loss, compared
to 2-6% in the non-Aboriginal population. There are a host of causes for the poor hearing, many indicative of the
generally poor health and lowered life expectancy of Canada’s Arctic
Aboriginal people. In children, the greatest cause is chronic ear infections, which often follow from respiratory infections.