Universal newborn hearing screening.
BACKGROUND
New technology has made universal newborn hearing screening possible. Our goal was to investigate the feasibility of universal newborn screening using distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) on infants in a community hospital in a normal newborn nursery.


METHODS
We used DPOAE to screen newborn infants from February 1997 to March 1999.


RESULTS
Of 1002 infants, 111 failed the initial screen (11.1%). When screening was repeated, only 2 infants failed. One infant failed the second screen and a tympanogram. He was treated and he passed a third use of DPOAE. An additional infant failed the repeat screen but passed the tympanogram. That infant was referred on for auditory brain response testing.


CONCLUSIONS
DPOAE testing can be accomplished easily in a normal newborn nursery with an acceptable false-positive rate when a two-stage approach is used. The cost for each test was $19.88. The cost to find the 1 infant with sensory neural hearing loss was $22,114.
Stone
K A
KA
Rapid City Regional Hospital, South Dakota, USA. kstone@rcrh.org
Smith
B D
BD
Lembke
J M
JM
Clark
L A
LA
McLellan
M B
MB
D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000191:economics*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006320:Hearing Tests / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male