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Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) in paediatric hearing screening--the Singapore experience
Insights
Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) offer a practical and effective method for pediatric hearing screening. This objective test is faster and equally accurate as the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) for identifying hearing impairment in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Hearing Impairment Diagnosis
- Objective Hearing Tests
Background:
- Early identification and rehabilitation are crucial for language development in children with hearing impairment.
- Traditional behavioral audiological tests in children lack reliability.
- Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) is a reliable objective test but challenging to perform on pediatric patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy of Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) and Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) for hearing screening in children.
- To evaluate OAE as a more practicable alternative to BAER in pediatric audiology.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 100 children was conducted at SGH between August 1991 and February 1992.
- Both Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) and Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) screening were performed on all participants.
- Statistical analysis was used to compare the effectiveness, sensitivity, and specificity of OAE versus BAER.
Main Results:
- Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) demonstrated equal effectiveness to Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) in identifying passed or failed hearing screening subjects (p < 0.05, X2 = 4.9).
- OAE achieved a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 93% when compared to BAER.
- The mean test time for OAE was significantly shorter (3.1 minutes) than for BAER (28.6 minutes), with a 100% success rate for OAE.
Conclusions:
- Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) are a feasible and efficient alternative to Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) for pediatric hearing screening.
- The practicality and speed of OAE make it a valuable tool for early detection of hearing impairment in children.
- OAE provides reliable results comparable to BAER, improving the screening process for young children.
Abstract:
Early identification and rehabilitation of hearing impairment is important for development of language in affected children. Behavioural audiological tests in children are unreliable. Brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER) although a reliable objective test, is difficult to perform. Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) is now thought to be a more practicable screening modality. A study to compare the use of OAE and BAER in the paediatric population was thus undertaken. 100 children underwent OAE and BAER screening in SGH from August 1991 to February 1992. OAE was equally effective when compared with the BAER in testing for passed or failed subjects (p < 0.05, X2 = 4.9). The sensitivity and specificity of OAE with respect to BAER was 95% and 93% respectively. Mean test time was 3.1 minutes for OAE and 28.6 minutes for BAER. Success rate for OAE was 100%. We therefore conclude that OAE is a feasible alternative to the BAER as a hearing screening modality.