title: Auditory brainstem response screening for hearing loss in high risk neonates.
abstract: The present paper reports the findings of a 7 year study evaluating the use of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) as the basis of a hearing screening procedure in a group of newborns at increased risk of hearing impairment. A Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) population of 417 infants with diverse clinical backgrounds and treatment histories was tested for hearing impairment at birth using ABR audiometry. Some 332 passed the original screen at 30 dBnHL test level in both ears. Of the failure group, 18 did not survive and 32 had some degree of hearing impairment confirmed, nine of which were sensorineural in origin. An increased incidence of persistent middle ear disease was also noted in the failure group. A detailed operational analysis demonstrates that provided appropriate pass/fail criteria are adopted, the ABR technique offers excellent sensitivity and specificity for the detection of significant hearing loss in the test population. Furthermore, the study establishes that implementation of an ABR-based screening programme could reduce the average age at detection of permanent hearing loss by 7 months. A cost assessment shows that the introduction of such a targetted screening procedure could be done at a reasonable outlay.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Queen's University, Belfast, UK.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: McClelland
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Adams
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005375:Financial Audit; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D012189:Retrospective Studies