Authors : Ali Azizi, Farhad Amirian, Abdollah Dargahi, Somayeh Beidaghi and Mitra Mohammadi
Abstract: Hearing Impairment (HI) is one of the most common congenital disorders in neonates which are observed as a severe and obscure handicap. The best early diagnostic methods for HI in newborns is Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS). In our country as a limited method, this method has been started since few years ago. In this study, we introduce hearing screening findings in one of the hospital in Tehran and compare with similar studies. A cross-sectional study was conducted on all newborns in Najmieh hospital between 2006 and 2007. Newborns at the first 48 h were screened using the TEOAE (Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission) test and the results were documented as Pass or Refer. The neonates were re-screened if they had Refer response during next 2-4 weeks. If the responses in both sessions (test and re-test) were Refer (not reactive) the infant would be referred for a final diagnosis with ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) test before three month of age and then referred to an otolaryngologist for more evaluations. From 3818 neonates screened 90% had a pass response and 10% were referred for re-test in 2-4 months of age. Of those who were referred, only 11 (3.6%) infants had a Refer response again. Out of nine infants who were referred for ABR, only 3 subjects showed up sensory-neural hearing loss as the final diagnosis. One of them hadn’t any risk factors of HI. Regarding to the results, suitable response in TEOAE test at the first time is not reliable and more screening test must be done to overrule the false negative and positive findings. One third of the children with HI hadn’t any risk factor for HI and we recommend careful hearing screening for all neonates even those without any risk factor.
Ali Azizi, Farhad Amirian, Abdollah Dargahi, Somayeh Beidaghi and Mitra Mohammadi, 2016. Evaluation of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening with TEOAE and ABR: A Cross-Sectional Study with the Literature Review. International Journal of Tropical Medicine, 11: 84-89.