Abstract
BackgroundTo screen the newborn by Transient evoked Otoacoustic emission and to assess the incidence of hearing damage and associated risk factors.MethodThis longitudinal prospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in India. A total of 415 babies were included in the study. All the newborns were evaluated with Transient evoked Otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) which was done by age of 1–3 days. Auditory brain stem response audiometry (AABR) was performed at the age of three months for confirming the hearing loss in the neonates those who failed the TEOAE screening. For infants proven to have significant hearing loss in one or both ears, were denoted to an ear, nose, and throat specialist for further evaluation & rehabilitation.ResultsOut of total 415 babies included in the study, 22 neonates showed abnormal TEOAE examination. Out of these 22 neonates, hearing loss was confirmed in 18 (82 %) subjects. by AABR. The following antenatal and post-natal risk factors were associated with hearing loss: ante-partum bleeding, history of maternal blood transfusion, fetal distress, prematurity, severe birth asphyxia, NICU admission for more than 24 h and Apgar score less than five at 5 min.ConclusionLate identification of hearing loss presents a substantial public health burden. Early recognition and intervention prior to 6 months of age has a significant positive impact on development. A high incidence of hearing impairment seen in our study neonatal population warrants the urgent implementation of universal hearing screening of all the newborn infants in India. NICU infants admitted for more than 24 h are to have an auditory brainstem response (AABR) included as part of their screening so that neural hearing loss will not be missed.
Highlights
To screen the newborn by Transient evoked Otoacoustic emission and to assess the incidence of hearing damage and associated risk factors
The following antenatal and post-natal risk factors were associated with hearing loss: ante-partum bleeding, history of maternal blood transfusion, fetal distress, prematurity, severe birth asphyxia, NICU admission for more than 24 h and Apgar score less than five at 5 min
A high incidence of hearing impairment seen in our study neonatal population warrants the urgent implementation of universal hearing screening of all the newborn infants in India
Summary
To screen the newborn by Transient evoked Otoacoustic emission and to assess the incidence of hearing damage and associated risk factors. Neonates having bilateral hearing loss or unilateral hearing loss of varying degrees above 1000 Hz develop significant long term effects on speech and language sciences [2]. The major difficulty with late identification of hearing loss is the effect. In many parts of the world routine newborn hearing screening has been implemented with varied success [7,8,9,10,11,12,13], but in developing world nations like ours universal screening is not available and has many obstacles to its implemenation [14, 15]. In India, there is no dedicated national program for early detection of hearing loss in newborns. Studies suggest that four out of every 1000 neonates have severe to profound hearing loss [16, 17]
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