Universal newborn hearing screening in 5 109 neonates

Objective To investigate an effective newborn hearing screening protocol for the early diagnosis and intervention of newborn hearing loss.Methods Five thousand one hundred and nine newborn hearing screening was performed based on transient evoked otoacoustic emission(TEOAE) with screening Echo-Screen(MEDSEN, Denmark). Neonates with a refer at the first screening were retested, and those with a refer at the retest were referred to auditory brainstem response(ABR).Results Four thousand eight hundred and two neonates(94%) passed the test for the first time and 301 cases(98%) passed the second test. Among the subjects, 6 cases(1.2‰) were diagnosed as hearing loss at different degrees based on the ABR test.Conclusions Neonatal hearing screening is helpful for finding neonates with hearing impairment as early as possible and providing the corresponding intervention.TEOAE was found to be a prefered hearing screening method in neonates because of its shortcut, non-invasiveness and accuracy.