Multistage standardization of Beraphone and OAE on neonates

Abstract

Background: Universal newborn hearing screening is a strategy to identify children with all kinds and degrees of hearing impairment, to lower the age at the time of diagnosis for early hearing amplification, to maximize their linguistic competence and literacy development. Methods: This study was conducted over the period of 9 months on 200 newborns selected from well-baby nursery and 30 infants from the SNCU unit of the hospitals to obtain field evidence of newborn hearing screening in Indian context by using TEOAE and AABR tests of MAICO easy screen beraphone instrument as well as to standardize the instrument. The process was carried out in different phases at different state government hospitals and the data was collected from the different departments of the hospitals. The obtained data were transferred to an excel spreadsheet. Then the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon Signed rank test were done by using SPSS software version 21. The detailed analysis was done for the age, sex and ear specific values. Results: The results showed a significant difference not only between well-baby and SNCU but also between left and right ear. It is represented both in the tabular and graphical way to explain the findings in detail. Conclusions: It can be stated that the MAICO easy screen beraphone instrument can be used for clinical and further research purposes related to newborn hearing screening suitable for infants up to 3 months of age because of its high sensitivity and specificity value.