4. A STUDY OF NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING USING OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS.

Nikita Chaudhari, R.G.Aiyer, Rahul Gupta, Jayman Raval

ABSTRACT

Background: Congenital hearing loss has recently been recognized as one of the most common birth defect present in newborns, with a prevalence of permanent hearing loss ranging from 2-3/1000 live births. Aims & Objectives: The present study was undertaken to know the prevalence of congenital hearing loss in normal neonates as well as in high risk neonates using otoacoustic emissions. Methods: The present study was prospective, observational study, which was carried out in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery, Medical College and S.S.G Hospital, Baroda from December 2014 to December 2016. A total of 709 Newborn babies were included in this study. These 709 Newborn babies were subjected to 2 stages DPOAE (Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions). Newborn babies were subjected to a 1st DPOAE screening within the first week of life if they don’t have any high risk factors and those Newborn babies who were admitted in NICU for more than 5 days were examined after being discharged from NICU. For those babies who pass 1st DPOAE, no further testing was done. For those babies who refer 1st DPOAE, repeat DPOAE testing was done after 15 days, failing which such newborn baby was subjected to BERA (Brainstem Evoked Response testing to confirm hearing loss). Results: Seven hundred and nine newborn babies were screened by DPOAE. 19 newborn babies had refer result for 1st DPOAE hearing screen and for these infants repeat DPOAE screens was done after 15 days. On repeat DPOAE testing, 2 infant gave refer result. Amongst 2 newborns who failed the final OAE test, one newborn had normal hearing in BERA testing and another one had moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss in right ear and mild sensorineural hearing loss in left ear. Hence the prevalence of hearing, loss of 1.41 per thousand was detected in newborn babies examined. Conclusion: Initial DPOAE screening followed by BERA examination in referingr cases is helpful for early identification of infants with hearing loss, hence allowing for timely intervention. It is necessary to secure the holistic development of the child by detecting hearing loss at birth and providing remedial measures at the earliest. At present there are no national policies to this effect although under NPPCD there is a planned provision of hearing aids for children. We need to identify those with mild to moderate hearing loss that are amenable to treatment through a universal Newborn Screening Program.

Key-words: Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), Newborn Hearing Screening, Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE).

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