Usefullness of 1000 Hz Tympanometry in the Results of Newborn Hearing Screening / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to verify and compare the results of newborn hearing screening (NHS) with that of 1000 Hz tympanometry conducted for newborns. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: For the hospitalized group, NHS and the portable 1000 Hz tympanometry were performed for 148 newborns (296 ears) from June through October in 2015. For the outpatient group, 93 newborns (186 ears) who had been referred after the 1st NHS results were reviewed from 2009 to 2014. We conducted NHS with the automated otoacoustic emissions for healthy babies and automated auditory brainstem response for the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). NHS and 1000 Hz tympanometry were performed for all newborns simultaneously. For the impedance audiometry, B type was categorized separately from A and C type. RESULTS: There was a significantly higher incidence of B type of tympanometry in the referred newborns compared to the other newborns in both hospitalized and outpatient group (p<0.01). In the outpatient group, the ears referred from the 1st NHS showed middle ear effusion in 100% of the well babies and 78.6% of the NICU babies. CONCLUSION: 1000 Hz tympanometry can help estimate the causes and middle ear function of the referred newborns after the hearing screening test. Parents could feel relieved by being explained that the refer result of NHS was due to middle ear or ear canal problem rather than to inner ear or neural problem.