Zahir Feroz, Paidi Ramesh Chandra, Pedada Pratima
BACKGROUND Hearing impairment is one of the commonest congenital disabilities in the world. The prevalence of congenital hearing loss has been estimated to be 1.2-5.7 per 1,000 live births and is more among high risk neonates. Screening is one of the most important methods for early diagnosis of hearing loss. Otoacoustic emission is an easy, cost effective and reliable method of testing of large number of infants for hearing loss. The present study emphasizes the use of otoacoustic emissions as a screening tool to detect hearing loss that would otherwise go unnoticed till 2-3 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS This descriptive study was conducted on 1000 neonates during the period August 2015 to August 2016. Neonates were selected from the department of Paediatrics, the department of Obstetrics and OPD of ENT of Konaseema Institute of Medical Sciences, Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh. Neonates between 24-72 hours of age were screened with DPOAE. Those who failed the first DPOAE screen were subjected to a second DPOAE screening after 2 to 3 months. RESULTS Out of 1000 neonates, 0.9% had persistent failure with OAE test. The factors which had significant relationship with hearing loss include prenatal risk factors like foetal distress, eclampsia, maternal infection, low birth weight, ototoxic drugs. Data was statistically analysed by McNemar’s test and Chi-square test. CONCLUSION The two staged screening protocol with Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission was found to be a useful tool in detecting hearing loss in newborn. It is important and logical from the point of health and economy that the screening tests should become necessary for all neonates.
