1-2/1,000 newborns are affected by connatal permanent hearing impairment. Clinical diagnosis is often delayed. This demands newborn hearing screening (NHS). Some questions regarding the optimal method remain unsolved.The newborns in the obstetrical department (low-risk group) are tested by automated transitory evoked otoacustic emissions (TEOAE). TEOAE-fail is followed by automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) examination. All sick newborns admitted to the pediatric department (high-risk group) are primarily tested using AABR. Pathological AABR-testing leads to pedaudiological diagnostic work-up.In the low-risk group, 82 out of 1,584 newborns failed TEOAE-testing (recall 5.18%). Only 5 of these patients failed consecutive AABR examination (recall 0.32%). Permanent hearing loss was finally confirmed in 3 children (0.13%). 10 out of 755 newborns in the high-risk group failed AABR-testing (1.32%). In 6 of these children, hearing loss was confirmed (0.79%).A two-tier screening process as described is able to reduce recall rate, overall expenses and parental anxiety.
Find this article in full text from Springer Verlag.