Abstract
We study hearing in a group of infants with Breast-feeding jaundice (BFJ) by means of Transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (T-EOE) and Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) searching for relationship between bilirubin serum levels and auditory dysfunction. Eleven infants born at-term with BFJ were selected for the study. We studied also 11 control age- and gender matched healthy at-term infants without signs of jaundice. T-EOAE studies were performed between 5-7 days after birth, and 3 months later. BAEP studies were performed once. BFJ group infants exhibited lower amplitudes in T-EOE than infants in the control group. These differences disappear at the 3-month evaluation. In BAEP, we observed a significant latency delay of waves I and V in Breast-feeding jaundice group infants. All infants in both groups demonstrated reproducible wave V response at 30 decibels. No significant correlation values were observed between bilirubin serum levels and T-EOE and BAEP variables. Our data suggest that BFJ can result in transient peripheral and central auditory dysfunction. Dysfunction is reversible after treatment of infants with BFJ.
Highlights
Previous research has shown the relationship between neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and sensorineural hearing loss [1,2]
We study hearing in a group of infants with Breast-feeding jaundice (BFJ) by means of Transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (T-EOE) and Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) searching for relationship between bilirubin serum levels and auditory dysfunction
Averages of response amplitude by ear determined by T-EOE at birth and 3 months later are shown in Table 3; in the neonatal period, there were significant differences in both ear responses between groups, with BFJ-group infants exhibiting lower amplitudes than infants in the control group
Summary
Previous research has shown the relationship between neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and sensorineural hearing loss [1,2]. The majority of investigations have been performed by means of Brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAEP) in High-risk newborns (HR-NB). These infants have been followed throughout several years after birth to confirm hearing loss [3,4,5,6]. Observations have suggested repeatedly that hearing dysfunction is a manifestation of injury situated in the auditory neural pathway along the brainstem. Breast-feeding jaundice (BFJ) provides a fair model to study the peripheral and central auditory alterations after pure neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, because this is different from hyperbilirubinemia in HR-NB. The majority of infants with BFJ are born at term with adequate weight and without other risk factors for auditory damage, such as asphyxia, intracranial hemorrhage, or others. The aim of our study was to study hearing function in a group of infants with BFJ by means of Transient-evoked oto-
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