High-risk neonatal hearing screening program using automated screening device performed by trained nursing personnel at Siriraj Hospital: yield and feasibility.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and significant risk factors for pathologic hearing screening test results in high-risk neonates and the feasibility of implementing hearing screening program using automated otoacoustic emission (OAE)/ auditory brain stem response (ABR) device performed by trained nursing staffs.

STUDY DESIGN: Single-center prospective, descriptive study.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: All neonates admitted to the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, who met the high-risk criteria according to Joint Committee of Infant Hearing 1994, American Academy of Pediatrics, were screened with one-step protocol using an automated OAE/ABR device (AccuScreen, GN Otometrics, Denmark). Infants who failed 2 consecutive OAE tests were reconfirmed by ABR prior to discharge. Descriptive analysis was used for the prevalence of pathologic hearing test results, age at screening, duration of procedure, number of risk factors per infant. Univariate analysis using Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis were used for identification of significant risk factors.

RESULTS: Five hundred and seven infants were identified to be at-risk in an 18-month study period. The prevalence of pathologic hearing screening test was 6.7% with unilateral and bilateral pathologic results in 13 and 21 infants (2.6% and 4.1%). Only craniofacial anomalies and mechanical ventilation > 5 days were shown to be independent significant risk factors (42-fold and 4-fold increased risk). Median age at screening test performed was 19 days (range 1-149 days) and almost all infants (97.3%) were screened within 3-month postnatal age. The mean time for hearing screening procedure was 10.7 +/- 8.0 minutes (range 2-60 minutes), 98.1% of procedure was accomplished within 30 minutes.

CONCLUSION: Hearing screening using automated OAE/ABR devices in high-risk neonates revealed approximately 7% of pathologic results with almost two-thirds having bilateral affected. The significant independent risk factors in this study population were craniofacial anomalies and mechnical ventilation > 5 days. The protocol of having trained nursing staffs to perform the screening yielded good results, i.e., the coverage of screened infants within 3 months of age (97%), feasible duration of procedure.