MAINTAINING ACCEPTABLY LOW REFERRAL RATES IN TEOAE-BASED NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING PROGRAMS

This article describes factors that can affect the refer rate for otoa coustic emission (OAE) based newborn hearing screening, including the population of infants being screened, the adequacy of probe fit, softw are options used, external ear conditions, screener training, and baby handling. The effect of the infant's age on screening outcomes is als o discussed using results of screening for 1328 regular nursery newbor ns, ranging in age from 6 to 60 hours, who were screened with transien t evoked otoaoustic emissions (TEOAE) prior to hospital discharge. The youngest infants (6-9 hours old) were as likely to pass (90% pas rate ) as the infants who were 24-27 hours old (94% pass rate). The results of this study are consistent with reports from many TEOAE-based scree ning programs that have demonstrated that acceptably low refer rates ( mean = 6.9%) can be obtained when appropriate screening procedures are followed. (C) 1997 by Elsevier Science Inc.