title: Comparative Study of Hearing Impairment among Healthy and Intensive Care unit Neonates in Mashhad, North East Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2001 statistics, hearing disorders are the most common congenital disease, and the incidence rate among high-risk newborns is as much as ten times as high as that in healthy neonates. However, 78% of screening test failures are well-baby nursery babies. The Joint Committee on Infants' Hearing (JCIH) has emphasized the importance of early diagnosis and treatment in neonates with hearing impairments in order to preserve their maximum linguistic skills. The aim of our study was to compare the prevalence of hearing loss among babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the rooming-in unit (RIU).
  
  
  METHODS
  Neonates born in three hospitals in Mashhad between 2008 to 2010 were studied prospectively and screened for auditory disorders using the oto acoustic emission (OAE) test at the time of discharge and 3 weeks later. To confirm hearing loss, the auditory steady state response (ASSR) test was used among those participants who failed both OAE tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two-thousand and sixty-three neonates from the NICU were screened and compared with a control group consisting of 8,724 neonates from the RIU or the well-baby nursery. At the end of the study, hearing impairment as confirmed by failure in the ASSR test was diagnosed in 31 neonates (26 in the control group [0.30%] and five in the NICU group [1.94%]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study, the prevalence of hearing disorders among NICU neonates was 6.5-times greater than that among babies from the RIU or well-baby unit. This observation demonstrates the importance of universal screening programs particularly for high-risk population neonates.
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Research Center, Imam Reza Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmadshah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farhat
authors.affiliation: Sinus and Surgical Endoscopic Research Center,   Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad   University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Mehdi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ghasemi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Javad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Akhondian
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Research Center, Imam Reza Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohammadzadeh
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Research Center, Imam Reza Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Habibollah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esmaeili
authors.affiliation: Neonatal Research Center, Imam Reza Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amiri
authors.affiliation: Audiologist, Member of Khorasan Cochlear Implant, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Asqar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Raoof Saeb
authors.affiliation: Sinus and Surgical Endoscopic Research Center,   Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad   University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Tale
authors.affiliation: Medical Student(Intern), Department of Pediatrics, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Faezeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Madani Sani
keywords: Hearing Impairment; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; Oto Acoustic Emission; Rooming-in care.