The importance of retesting the hearing screening as an indicator of the real early hearing disorder.

INTRODUCTION Early diagnosis of hearing loss minimizes its impact on child development. We studied factors that influence the effectiveness of screening programs. OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between gender, weight at birth, gestational age, risk factors for hearing loss, venue for newborn hearing screening and "pass" and "fail" results in the retest. METHODS Prospective cohort study was carried out in a tertiary referral hospital. The screening was performed in 565 newborns through transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in three admission units before hospital discharge and retest in the outpatient clinic. Gender, weight at birth, gestational age, presence of risk indicators for hearing loss and venue for newborn hearing screening were considered. RESULTS Full-term infants comprised 86% of the cases, preterm 14%, and risk factors for hearing loss were identified in 11%. Considering the 165 newborns retested, only the venue for screening, Intermediate Care Unit, was related to "fail" result in the retest. CONCLUSIONS Gender, weight at birth, gestational age and presence of risk factors for hearing loss were not related to "pass" and/or "fail" results in the retest. The screening performed in intermediate care units increases the chance of continued "fail" result in the Transient Otoacoustic Evoked Emissions test.