SPONTANEOUS AND EVOKED OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS IN PRETERM AND FULL-TERMNEONATES - IS THERE A CLINICAL-APPLICATION

In neonates and infants, hearing impairment leads to impaired language and cognitive development. For that reason, early detection of this s ensory deficit is of outstanding importance, particularly in pre-term neonates, who constitute a high risk population in regard to very earl y acquired hearing loss. Evoked (EOAE) and spontaneous otoacoustic emi ssion (SOAE) recording in 93 pre-term and full-term neonates revealed that this technique is potentially useful for auditory screening in ne onatology units. EOAEs and SOAEs can be recorded successfully from 30 weeks of conceptional age. SOAEs were found to be prevalent in females and presented higher peak numbers in right than in left ears. Further more, SOAE incidence in pre-term and full-term neonates was found to b e high in EOAE positive ears, associated with strong and robust EOAEs.