Newborn Hearing Screening: Experience from a Tertiary level Hospital in Nepal

Introduction Congenital hearing loss is one of the commonest causes of hearing impairment and deafness in childhood. Early diagnosis and intervention in time help a child to lead a better life with good language and communication skills. Known risk factors include cytomegalovirus infection and premature birth necessitating a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit. Universal newborn hearing screening has been implemented by many countries due to easy and non-invasive screening test and their ability to identify children who may need early intervention. Methods: All the newborns delivered between December 2018 to November 2020 were screened for congenital hearing loss. The average age at screening was more than 24 hours. Those who were referred in OAE (otoacoustic emissions testing) underwent ABR (auditory brainstem response) test and further workup as needed. Conclusions: The incidence of congenital hearing loss was 1.8 per 1000 live births. This finding is consistent with other previous research. UNHS will be cost-effective easy and feasible method for early detection of hearing loss in newborns. Pediatric health services organizations should prioritize universal newborn hearing screening as a part of the standard of care in birthing services.

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Congenital Rubella Syndrome Screening for Newborn in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1055/s-0037-1607360 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (01) ◽

pp. 051-056

Author(s):

Agung Triono ◽

Oktania Candrawati ◽

Kartono Sudarman ◽

Umi Intansari ◽

Ekawaty Haksari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Otoacoustic Emissions ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Hearing Screening ◽

Congenital Rubella Syndrome ◽

Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

Congenital Rubella ◽

Universal Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing ◽

Brainstem Response

Background Rubella infection in pregnancy can cause congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), and one common defect of CRS is hearing loss. However, hearing screening is not routinely performed in Indonesia. While the number of reported cases of CRS in Indonesia is increasing, it is still difficult to identify all CRS cases. This study aims to identify CRS cases through a newborn hearing screening. Materials and Methods This descriptive study was conducted at Dr. Sardjito Hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The subjects were recruited from September 1, 2013 to November 19, 2013. The study period was from September 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014. Newborn subjects underwent the first otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) test. Subjects with the first OAEs test REFER results underwent the second OAEs test 2 months later. Subjects with REFER result in the second OAEs test then underwent auditory brainstem response (ABR) and detection of rubella IgM in blood serum. Result There were 151 subjects who underwent the first OAEs test. Ninety subjects (60%) had REFER results, but only 29 subjects underwent the second OAEs test. In the second OAEs test, 9/151 (5%) subjects were REFER. There were 6/151 (3.9%) subjects who underwent ABR and all subjects had sensory neural hearing loss. Of them, one subject was positive for rubella IgM with a titer of 11.86 at 2.5 months of age. We found nine suspected CRS cases, one clinically-confirmed and one laboratory-confirmed CRS case. The incidence of laboratory-confirmed CRS was 1/151 (6.62/1,000) live births. Conclusion Due to the low incidence we found and the cost of screening, we recommend to strengthen surveillance of CRS. All infants less than 1 year of age with suspected CRS should be checked with rubella IgM to identify CRS cases. While universal newborn hearing screening is not mandatory in Indonesia, targeted newborn hearing screening should be performed to detect children with permanent congenital hearing loss due to CRS.

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Comparing Newborn Hearing Test Batteries: TEOAE and A-ABR – Pilot Study

New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Advances Pure and Applied Sciences ◽

10.18844/gjapas.v0i8.2786 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 36-41

Author(s):

Esra Dogru Huzmeli

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Otoacoustic Emissions ◽

Screening Programme ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing ◽

Keywords Hearing Loss ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Hearing Test

The aim of the newborn hearing screening programme is early detection of hearing loss. Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and automised auditory brainstem response (A-ABR) are effective, objective and valuable test batteries for newborn hearing screening, and they should be used together. The purpose of this study is to determine which test battery is more accurate and can be used as the gold standard. A total of 933 newborn children were included in this study, of which 602 were girls and 331 boys. 622 of them were screened with TEOAE, while 311 with A-ABR. 31 of the newborn screened with A-ABR and 27 of those screened with TEOAE were referred in the hearing screening programme. The results showed that out of 933, 17 subjects had hearing loss. The hearing loss rate was 1.8%; 12 of the newborn screened with AABR and 5 of those screened with TEOAE had hearing loss. Keywords: Hearing loss, TEOAE, ABR, newborn hearing screening.

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NEWBORNS HEARING SCREENING WITH OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS AND AUDITORY BRAINSTEM RESPONSE

Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Research ◽

10.20473/jcmphr.v1i1.20287 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Kusumagani Hamam ◽

Nyilo Purnami

Keyword(s):

Auditory Brainstem Response ◽

Otoacoustic Emissions ◽

Screening Method ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

Universal Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Two Stages

Hearing loss in newborns is a serious matter, if it is not quickly diagnosed and starts early intervention, a child will experience social, speech, language, cognitive, and academic impairments. There is a method of hearing screening in newborns, which is divided into two types, universal newborn hearing screening, and targeted newborn screening. Both of these methods use OAEs and ABR as objective examination tools. The hearing screening method varies in each country, this difference is based on the test equipment used, age, frequency, professionals involved in screening, referral procedures, funding, and coverage areas. Indonesia uses two stages of screening, while Italy, America, Nigeria, France, India, and Poland use two to five stages of screening. Hearing screening of newborns using OAEs and ABR has a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 99,3%.

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Referral and Lost to System Rates of Two Newborn Hearing Screening Programs in Saudi Arabia

International Journal of Neonatal Screening ◽

10.3390/ijns6030050 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 50

Author(s):

Ahmad A. Alanazi

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Saudi Arabia ◽

Otoacoustic Emissions ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

Two Stage ◽

Screening Programs ◽

Newborn Hearing ◽

Brainstem Response

Congenital hearing loss has been commonly reported as a significant health problem. Lost to system (LTS) is a major challenge facing newborn hearing screening (NHS) programs. This retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to determine the referral and LTS rates after the two-stage NHS based on transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in two main hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (SA). NHS was performed on newborns before hospital discharge. Newborns were only rescreened if NHS initially revealed a fail/refer outcome in one or both ears. Those who failed the first and second screenings or had risk factors were referred for auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing to confirm or exclude hearing loss. In total, 20,171 newborns (40,342 ears; 52% males; 48% females) were screened, of whom 19,498 (96.66%) passed the initial screening, while 673 (3.34%) failed. Of the 673 newborns, 235 (34.92%) were LTS, and 438 (65.08%) were rescreened, of whom 269 (61.42%) failed and were referred for a comprehensive audiological assessment to confirm the existence of hearing loss. The referral rate after the initial two-stage screening was equal to 1.33%. The lack of awareness of the importance of NHS among parents seems to be the major cause behind the LTS rate. The stakeholders have to work efficiently to reduce the LTS rate.

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Letter to the Editor

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.94.6.950a ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 94 (6) ◽

pp. 950-952

Author(s):

Michael J. M. Raffin ◽

Gregory J. Matz

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Auditory Brainstem Response ◽

High Frequency ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

High Frequency Hearing Loss ◽

Universal Newborn Hearing Screening ◽

Newborn Hearing ◽

Brainstem Response

We thank Bess and Paradise, (1994)1 for bringing attention to some relevant issues related to universal newborn hearing screening. We note that their assertion that the effects of mild or moderate temporary hearing loss are "entirely speculative and perhaps nonexistent" may be somewhat overstated (see, for example, Teele, Klein, Chase, Menyuk, Rosner and associates, 1990).2 The assertion that click-evoked auditory brainstem response (ABR) may be used "... primarily to detect high-frequency hearing loss" is not warranted and misleading.

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