Neonatal Screening for Hearing Loss Using OAE and Comparison it with Conventional Methods

Introduction: Communication is the essence of life. Speech, Language and Hearing are involved rigorously in any communication around us. Children Hearing loss in children constitutes a considerable handicap because it is an invisible disability & compromises optimal development & personnel achievement of a child. Screening is one of the most important methods for early diagnosis of hearing loss. Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE’s) is an easy, cost effective and reliable method of testing of large number of infants for hearing loss. Material and Method: The present study was a Pilot study conducted at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi during the period one year, with a sample size of 100 including normal as well high risk babies. Babies were assessed by Conventional method, DPOAE and by ABR at five different Phases at different time intervals. Results: The overall detection rate by DPOAE over Conventional methods was higher by 36%. (97.9% Vs 61.6%) The Sensitivity of the Conventional methods has progressively increased from Phase-I to Phase-IV (from 20% to 90%). Negative predictive value for Conventional methods was high at initial Phase and reduced at later Phases. Conclusion: Hence the use of Distortion product Otoacoustic Emissions as initial screening test provides as easy, cost effective and quick method to detect infants with hearing loss. As it is less invasive and time consuming than BERA, DPOAE can be used as initial screening method for hearing loss in infants with BERA being reserved for infants that fail DPOAE screening.