Evaluation of the use of a questionnaire to detect hearing loss in babies in China

A questionnaire was used to screen hearing of 1020 babies 6-8 months in Chi na. Ali babies failing the questionnaire and 10% of those who passed were t ested using auditory brainstem audiometry (ABR). Babies with unilateral or bilateral hearing thresholds 30 dBnHL or more were investigated to determin e the cause of the hearing impairment. Sixty-seven failing the questionnair e were tested and 23 were confirmed to have a hearing loss, 20 with bilater al hearing impairment. The causes were: 13 otitis media with effusion (OME) , one hypoxia, one genetic and five unknown. One child with an OME related hearing loss passed the screen. The sensitivity of the questionnaire was es timated to be 70%, specificity 96%. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.