Otoacoustic Emissions in Universal Hearing Screening: Which Day after Birth Should We Examine the Newborns?

Abstract

Transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) have been widely used in universal newborn hearing screening programs. Although there is consensus with regard to the avoidance of early screening, especially during the first hours after birth, the optimum testing day is not yet unanimously accepted. The aim of the present study was to compare the ‘pass-refer’ results between 4 groups of newborns tested during the 4 postbirth days and determine the most appropriate day for assessing newborn hearing. Our results suggest that, although TEOAEs can be recorded in very high rates from the first 24 h of life, ‘refer’ scores are lower on the third and fourth days after birth. It may be thus concluded that the optimum time of assessing newborn hearing in universal hearing screening programs seems to be the third or fourth postbirth day, provided that other social or financial reasons do not suggest an earlier discharge from the hospital.

Características das emissões otoacústicas por transientes em programa de triagem auditiva neonatal

“…The mean duration time is similar to the observed at the literature (Table 7), however as in Kok et al(1994) study at the nursery the test was faster, this is probable associated to the infant state, because at the clinic the infants are more often awake and restless the test would take longer. At the nursery because of the infants hospitalization it is possible to perform the test at the natural sleep, and how nearest from the discharge faster is the examination (Graphic 1), Korres et al (2003) reported similar findings at the growth of OAE during the first days postpartum.…”

Triagem auditiva neonatal: ocorrência de falhas, perdas auditivas e indicadores de riscos

“…more restless (bath, handling for an exam, drug administration), the external auditory meatus being obstructed by vernix or by wax may contribute to the high rates of retests in NHS programs 17 . The high rate of evasion found in the present study and also described in the literature is still a major challenge for audiology professionals 9,12,18 .…”

Processo de implantação de Programa de Saúde Auditiva em duas maternidades públicas

“…A incidência de registro das emissões otoacústicas relacionadas ao peso dos recém-nascidos é de 72%, nos bebês com peso entre 1500 g e 2500 g e de 55%, nos bebês com peso inferior a 1500 g (19) . Em nossa experiência, acredita-se em menor índice de falso-positivos a partir do quarto dia de vida (20)(21) . Já foi encontrado, em estudo anterior (22) que, no segundo dia de vida, a estabilidade foi significantemente melhor e com uma melhor simetria (p<0.001) e menos incidência de artefatos (p<0.001).…”