Evaluation of Automated Auditory Brainstem Response versus Oto-Acoustic Emissions in neonatal hearing screening

Abstract

Permanent hearing loss is one of the most common congenital disorders. The diagnosis of hearing loss in the first six months of life is a key factor to minimize the irreversible effects that sensory deprivation can result in the global development (Olusanya et al., 2008; Korver et al., 2010). Universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) seeks to screen all infants by one month of age, to conclusively diagnose permanent congenital hearing loss (PCHL) by the third month of life, and to treat the patient not later than the sixth month age (Hyde, 2005; JCIH, 2007). The following may be used in neonatal hearing screening: Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR), Automated Oto-Acoustic Emissions (EOAE) or the Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR) which, although little known and used (Rajkumar et al., 2016). This study is undertaken to assess feasibility of AABR (Beraphone) in primary health care (PHC) for hearing screening of newborns in Egypt. It was conducted on a total number of 567 neonate with mean age of 5.51 days +_4.7 from December 2015 to June 2016. Neonatal hearing screening was done by either Automated Transient Oto Acoustic Emission (ATEOAE) or Automated Auditory Brain stem Response (AABR) (Beraphone) which are