Otoacoustic emission criteria for neonatal hearing screening

lTransient evoked otoacoustic emission measures are gaining acceptance as a technique in new-born hearing screening. At present a wide variety of pass -fail screening criteria are used in otoacoustic emission screening program s. In a study of 100 special care neonates and 35 well, full term babies, a number of screening criteria were examined for sensitivity and specificity characteristics when compared to a standard auditory brainstem response pr otocol. Results indicate that, for normal and special care neonates with a gestational age at test of 38-41 weeks, high sensitivity (> 80%) could be o btained when a pass-fail criterion involving analysis of emission reproduci bility, or emission reproducibility and emission response level. was set. S ensitivity was reduced for special care neonates who fell outside this age range. Specificity was found to be relatively low overall (always < 65%) an d may relate to clinical factors in special care neonates not investigated in this study. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.