title: Newborn hearing screening at Rajavithi Hospital, Thailand: hearing loss in infants not admitting in intensive care unit.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Approximately one to two per 1000 newborns have hearing loss. Delay in detection of this disability leads to impaired development and may prevent the acquisition of speech. Early screening of hearing in newborns results in children receiving early language rehabilitation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Determine the incidence of infants hearing loss in infants not requiring intensive care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective descriptive study in hearing loss in infants not requiring intensive care in Rajavithi Hospital between 17th January 2008 to 23rd December 2009. Infants were screened with otoacoustic emissions (OAE), the results were divided into two groups, "pass" and "refer". The infants who failed the screening test were referred for further checks with second OAE and if they failed again, then the authors reassessed them with Auditory Steady State Response Test (ASSR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 508 newborns that needed intensive care out of 5,190 live births. 639 excluded because of unwilling to join the project. Therefore 4,043 newborns were included in the study. There were 246 (6.1%) newborns who failed the first screening test but only 189 newborns were tested in second OAE because 57 newborns were lost to follow-up. Twenty one newborns (11.1%) failed the second test. There were 15 newborn using ASSR for hearing threshold (6 newborns were lost to follow-up). There were 11 newborn was normal hearing, 2 newborn (rate 49.5: 100,000) was mild hearing and moderate to severe hearing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The incidence of moderate to severe hearing loss in newborns who did not require intensive care was very low (rate 49.5: 100,000). However screening all newborns with OAE is still valuable because of severe impact to quality of life of late detection of hearing loss. Evaluation of hearing by ASSR was reliable.
authors: Center of Excellence in Otolaryngology, Rajavithi Hospital, College of Medicine, Rangsit University, Bangkok, Thailand. virucht@gmail.com
authors: Viruch
authors: V
authors: Tungvachirakul
authors: Supranee
authors: S
authors: Boonmee
authors: Tawipa
authors: T
authors: Nualmoosik
authors: Jaruwan
authors: J
authors: Kamjohnjiraphun
authors: Winya
authors: W
authors: Siripala
authors: Watanee
authors: W
authors: Sanghirun
authors: Supanee
authors: S
authors: Mungpol
authors: Araya
authors: A
authors: Pangkul
authors: Manus
authors: M
authors: Potaporn
mesh_terms: D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000151:congenital / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006320:Hearing Tests / Q000379:methods; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D059012:Lost to Follow-Up; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology