A multisite study to examine the efficacy of the otoacoustic emission/automated auditory brainstem response newborn hearing screening protocol: introduction and overview of the study.
OBJECTIVE
This article is the 1st in a series of 4 articles on a recently completed multistate study of newborn hearing screening.


METHODS
The study examined the efficacy of the 2-stage otoacoustic emission/automated auditory brainstem response (OAE/A-ABR) protocol for identifying hearing loss in newborns.


RESULTS
The study found that the 2-stage OAE/A-ABR protocol did miss a significant number of babies who exhibited a permanent hearing loss by 1 year of age. Three subsequent articles will describe the research design and results in detail, discuss the behavioral assessment of infants, and summarize the implications of the study for policy, practice, and research.
Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822, USA. jeanj@hawaii.edu
Jean L
JL
Johnson
Karl R
KR
White
Judith E
JE
Widen
Judith S
JS
Gravel
Betty R
BR
Vohr
Michele
M
James
Teresa
T
Kennalley
Antonia B
AB
Maxon
Lynn
L
Spivak
Maureen
M
Sullivan-Mahoney
Yusnita
Y
Weirather
Sally
S
Meyer
D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods*; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States