Investigation of the results of infant hearing screening test with transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in Moradi Hospital of Rafsanjan, Iran, in 2014

Background: Congenital hearing loss delays many aspects of a child's development, including speech and socio-cognitive development. The aim of this study was determine the results of infant hearing screening with transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) in Moradi Hospital, Rafsanjan, Iran: 2014. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study from 6017 infants born in Niknafs Hospital in 2014, the hearing of 2743 infants was tested by TEOAE during the first 24 hours after birth. If the result TEOAE test was negative, 3 weeks later, the hearing examination was repeated.  If the result of the second examination was negative, a precise hearing examination was performed with auditory brainstem response (ABR) before 3 months of age, and hearing loss cases were identified and referred to competent centers. The obtained information was presented in the form of descriptive statistics. Results: Of the 2743 infants, 2515 (91.69%) succeeded in the first stage test, 127 (4.63%) in the second stage test, and 16 (0.58%) in the third stage test (ABR test), showing a healthy hearing system. The results of examination with ABR indicated that 4 infants (0.14%) had mild to severe hearing loss who were introduced to specialized centers for cochlear implantation or using hearing aids. Conclusions: Due to the high accuracy of screening tests, neonatal hearing impairment can be diagnosed and treated in the early days of life. Due to the availability of accurate tests for the examination of the hearing system and their low cost, hearing screening is recommended for infants at birth.