HEARING SCREENING IN NEWBORNS USING THE ECHOSENSOR REDUCING SYSTEM FOR OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY

Following the recommendations of the United States National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference in 1993, otoacoustic emissions (OAE) a re now used internationally for hearing screening. The use of recordin g systems as well as the interpretation of results requires specially trained personnel although measurements are easier to perform than oth er recording methods available. To date, no objective method for gener al hearing screening, has been introduced in Germany, for neonates or children at risk, even though it would be desirable to detect and reha bilitate children with congenital hearing loss as early as possible (i ncidence, 1-6 per 1000). The Echosensor provides the means for carryin g out OAE recordings within a short period of time and includes an aut omatic evaluation of results. Recordings can also be made by trained p ersonnel. As a comparison test, audiologically trained staff recorded otoacoustic emissions in 111 newborn children in order to compare the results of the Echosensor with the results of a conventional OAE measu rement device (the ILO88). The aim of this pilot study was to determin e the reliability and validity of the recordings in comparison with av ailable standards in brainstem audiometry. Our study showed that the r esults of the Echosensor corresponded well with the ILO88 results. Con sequently, an OAE measuring method is now available is also provides h igh sensitivity and specificity and is easy to use. Our findings show that the Echosensor can meet the demands of systematic hearing screeni ng in Germany.