Auditory Evaluation in Low Birth Weight Infants by Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry

Hearing is the link by which the newborn comes in contact with the world of sound and language. Sense of hearing is a gift to mankind from god, as hearing and speech are the cornerstones of communication. Speech is intimately related to hearing because those with impaired hearing often have speech delay. The aim of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of BERA (Brain stem evoked response audiometry) in auditory evaluation in low birth weight infants. This is a comparative study in 30 low birth weight infants aged below one year and 30 infants with normal birth weight. BERA testing was done with RMS EMG EP MARK-II machine manufactured by the RMS recorders and Medicare system, Chandigarh. Students unpaired t test was used for statistical analysis. Out of 30 cases of low birth weight infants, 19 had hearing impairment. No BERA waves were recordable in 7 of 19 children. Remaining 12 had mean wave V threshold 42.36 ± 21.41 dB, which was highly significant statistically when compared to the threshold of 30± 0.1 dB in those with normal birth weight. Awareness needs to be created in the population regarding good antenatal care. Milestones in children also need to be carefully monitored and early intervention needs to be done if any delay in attainment of milestones. Screening programme should be performed in the nursery and well-baby clinic during immunization in the early neonatal stage to avoid harmful effect on speech and language development.