EVALUATION OF OUR NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING PROGRAM DATA
1Mardin Devlet Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Kliniği, Mardin, Türkiye2İstanbul Arel Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Ana Bilim Dalı, İstanbul, Türkiye Introduction: Speech and language development of babies develops in the first years of life. We planned this study to evaluate the success of the newborn hearing screening protocol and the rate of possible/detected newborn hearing loss, together with the literature data.
Material Method: The test results of 5255 newborns who underwent newborn hearing screening test were evaluated through retrospective file scanning. Babies who underwent screening test consisted of healthy babies born in our hospital or referred to our center for newborn hearing screening test from different centers.
Results: Of the 5255 newborns tested in the last year, 84.57% passed the 1st stage test. 15.43% were tested a second time. In the second stage, 584 of the babies who were tested received a "passed" response from the screening. 227 (4.32% of infants) infants failed both screening tests. Reference upper center evaluation was recommended for 227 infants. 5(2.2%) of the babies who were referred did not apply to the upper center. Among the 5255 babies included in the study, the rate of babies with confirmed hearing loss according to the Brain stem evoked response audiometry (BERA) result was 0.24%. Nine (0.17%) of the babies with confirmed hearing loss had bilateral hearing loss, and 4(0.07%) had unilateral hearing loss. Hearing loss infants were fitted with hearing aids within one month after the hearing loss was confirmed.
Conclusion: Effectively conducted newborn hearing screening test programs bring very positive results for the scanned babies and their families.
Keywords : Otoacoustic emission response, Newborn hearing screening, Hearing loss