Early identification of hearing deficit for the high-risk newborn with auditory brainstem response

From January 1997 to December 1999, 155 infants at risk of hearing impairment were selected from babies hospitalized at Veterans General Hospital-Taipei. The risk criteria of hearing impairment for neonates were based on the US Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, 1994 Position Statement. All infants were tested with the auditory brainstem response (ABR) at a mean postconceptional age of 39.2±2.3 weeks (33-43 weeks).The follow-up ABR tests were performed at a mean corrected age of 3.9±1.6 months (2-6 months). Thirty-six infants failed the first ABR tests; among them, nine infants were lost to follow-up ABR test. Ten infants failed the follow-up ABR tests and were diagnosed with confirmed hearing loss. The prevalence of hearing loss in at-risk infants was between 6.5% confirmed and 12.2% including infants who did not have follow-up tests. The risk factors for confirmed hearing loss in infants were craniofacial anomaly, history of hypoxia, hyperbilirubinemia, ototoxic medication, very low birth weight and congenital anomalies.