[Hearing screening of 10,501 newborns]

Area of Science:

• Neonatal audiology
• Developmental pediatrics
• Otoacoustic emissions and auditory evoked potentials

Context:

• Early identification of hearing loss in newborns is critical for developmental outcomes.
• Standard newborn hearing screening protocols aim to detect congenital hearing impairment promptly.
• The study evaluates a multi-stage screening strategy for enhanced diagnostic accuracy.

Purpose:

• To assess the efficacy of a two-stage hearing screening protocol utilizing transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and auditory brain-stem response (ABR).
• To determine the prevalence of congenital hearing loss in a cohort of 10,501 newborns.
• To establish an optimal clinical strategy for newborn hearing screening.

Summary:

• A total of 10,501 newborns underwent initial hearing screening using TEOAE. Infants failing the initial screen received a secondary TEOAE, followed by ABR and 40 Hz auditory event-related potential (AERP) monitoring for those who failed the second screen.
• The initial screening had a false-positive rate of 14.92%, reduced to 0.26% after the two-stage TEOAE process.
• A prevalence of 5.90 per thousand for congenital hearing loss and 2.76 per thousand for bilateral hearing loss was identified among the screened infants.

Impact:

• The integrated screening approach, combining TEOAE, ABR, and 40 Hz AERP, facilitates early diagnosis of hearing loss in infants.
• Early detection enables timely and appropriate intervention, significantly improving long-term developmental trajectories for infants with hearing impairment.
• This study provides evidence for an effective clinical strategy to improve newborn hearing screening outcomes.