Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026
Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
Published on: January 23, 2017
[Normal parameters of ear acoustic emissions in neonates]
Ricardo Jorge Hernández-Herrera1, Luz María Hernández-Aguirre, Norma Castillo-Martínez
1Departamento de Pediatría, Hospital Regional de Especialidades 23, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. richdzher@hotmail.com
Introduction:
The ear acoustic emissions (EAE) are produced from pure low intensity tones coming from the cochlea in response to a stimulus. Hypocusia in the neonate may be detected by universal hearing screening programs using EAE that have a sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 85%.
Objective:
To define the normal limits we measured the EAE in a group of healthy newborns and calculated the media and standard deviation (SD).
Patients And Methods:
We enrolled 280 healthy neonates, previous external ear evaluation for permeability and we measured the EAE at 7 to 30 days of life at 2000, 2500, 3187, 4000, 5062 y 6375 Hz, using a 55-65 dB stimulus for each frequency band.
Results:
In each frequency band evaluated we calculated the media: 10.76, 9.16, 9.46, 7.89, 4.83, 2 dB SPL, and minus two SD: 0.54, -0.33, 0.06, -2.04, -4.37, -7.43 dB SPL, that we considered the lower limit of normality for both ears in each frequency band tested. There were no significant differences between measurements in both ears (p>0.05).
Conclusions:
The EAE measurement is an easy, and low cost test that can be used to make the universal hearing screening accessible. These results support the normal levels of EAE and the Corti organ function in healthy newborns.
