ABSTRACT

Hearing loss is one of the most common congenital anomalies, occuring in approximately 1-3 infants per 1000. Early identification and intervention can prevent severe linguistic, educational and psychosocial repercussions. Intervention before 6 months of age allows a child with impaired hearing to develop normal speech and language. The objective of this study was to investigate the incidence of hearing loss in neonates and determine the mean of intervention in children with hearing loss.

This study was conducted in the Audiology Unit of Istanbul Education and Research Hospital. İnfants who underwent hearing screening during the period between December 2010 and March 1012 were evaluated retrospectively. A total of 1604 babies born at our hospital and 4001 babies referred to our hospital for secondary and tertiary steps were screened during this time period. In total, 5605 infants were screened. This hearing screening was performed in three step. We screened in the first step using the TEOAE test, which was folllowed by an Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test for the second step. Audiometry, impedancemetry and BERA were performed in the tertiary step.

Bilateral severe sensorineural hearing loss was found in 2 infants (0.12%) born in our hospital. We determined 86 infants (21/1000) with hearing loss who were referred to our center. This study group consisted of approximately 70% of infants born with hearing loss who have known risk factors. We determined that the mean age of identification was 7.4±2.7 months and the mean age of intervention was 9.6±3.9 months.

The study results showed that the ages of identification and intervention of hearing loss in Turkey has developed significantly.

Keywords: Newborn, hearing screening test, hearing loss