Hearing loss in low-birth-weight infants.

The hearing of 98 perinatal intensive care survivors with a mean birth weight of 1,540 g was assessed at a mean age of 6 1/2 years. They represented 73% of the long-term survivors with birth weights of 1,800 g or less who had been cared for in our neonatal unit during the three-year period 1971 through 1973. Nine of the 98 infants had sensorineural hearing loss, and 14 had exudative otitis media. During their neonatal period, the infants with hearing loss experienced more frequent apneic attacks, hyperbilirubinemia (serum bilirubin level, greater than 14 mg/dL), and hypothermia compared with their healthy counterparts. There was no evidence that the duration of stay in the incubator or the use of stay in the incubator or the use of ototoxic drugs had affected the hearing of these low-birth-weight infants.

Noise pollution in neonatal units: a potential health hazard.

Hospital noise levels were measured for four consecutive days every two hours throughout the day in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), a normal nursery room and inside infant incubators when the latter were associated with different types of life-support equipment. There was a difference in the noise level between normal nursery and NICU, whereas a considerable increase of noise was recorded when the infant received supplemental oxygen, was under ventilator or when an air compressor was in operation. High noise levels were equally the same both in a.m. and p.m. hours in the NICU. As many high risk infants spend a long time in a NICU, there is an urgent need for further evaluation of noise levels and their effect on the outcome of infants.