Studies On Neonatal Hearing Screening

Congenital hearing impairment is an important handicap affecting0.1～0.3% of well-baby populations and 2～4% finfants of neonatalintensive care unit. The prognosis for intellectual, emotional, languageand speech development in the heating impaired child is improved whenthe diagnosis is established early and intervention is undertaken beforethe age of 6 months.The aim of newborn hearing screening(NHS), is to find out the deafneonates before 6 monthes of age, and to take the neonates withpermanent hearing loss under scientific intervention. In this study,DPOAE and ABR were conducted in NHS, and some useful conclusionswere obtained.1. Objectives: To investigate the incidence of neonatal hearingloss in well-baby populations and draw DP-grow of normal neonate.Methods: DPOAE was conducted in 201 infants born in XiangYahospital from 2005.12 to 2006.09 and the referral values of DPOAE wereobtained. Results: 1 child was identified through our protocol. Theincidence was 0.05% (1 out of 201) in the well-baby nursery. In addition,we draw a DP-grow from the values. The S/N-ration was bigger than 6dB SPL on all frequencies above 1.5kHz, and the check-out rate were bigger than 93% at all frequerncies above 1.0kHz. Conclusion: Theincidence was 0.05%(1 out of 201) in the well-baby nursery. Amplitudeis in the range of normal referral value and S/N-ratio≥6dB SPL may betake as judgement standard for DPOAE. If 2 continuous frequencies arenot for standard, we can think the baby fail to pass the DPOAE.2. Objectives: To investigate the incidence of neonatal hearingloss in NICU and find the risk factors. Methods: One hundred high-risknewborns received screening at 3～14 days after birth and those whofailed to pass were tested again at 42 days. ABR was applied if both thetests were failed. Results: 4 babies were diognosised as hearing loss,and the incidence was 4% (4out of 100) in the NICU populations. The 4infants were shown to have a higher incidence of high C-reactive protein(CRP)(＞10 mg/dl), premature delivery, asphyxiation. Conclusion:Even in a small number of infants, there are positive relationshipsbetween hearing loss and high CRP(＞10 mg/dl), asphyxiation, prematuredelivery. The CRP(＞10 mg/dl) variable are not listed in the high-riskregistered published by the JCIH, but we can say that the variable maypredict hearing impairment in our study. This leads us to conclude thathearing screening with ABR and DPOAE is an effective way to find outhearing loss in population.