UNIVERSAL NEW BORN HEARING SCREENING PROGRAM IN KFMMC HOSPITAL

Al-Saif S (1), AbdelTawwab MM (2).

Consultant of ORL, KFMMC Hospital, Dhahran, KSA, Egypt (1); Lecturer of Audiology, ENT Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, now Audiological Physician in KFMMC Hospital, Egypt (2).

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to establish universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) program in KFMMC hospital and to study the prevalence of hearing loss in neonates delivered in this hospital.

Subjects and methods: All neonates delivered normally or by cesarean section in KFMMC hospital from 15 April 2003 to 1st August 2006 were screened for hearing impairment by OAEs then ABR.

Results: A total of (2592) neonates were screened for hearing loss. The prevalence of hearing loss was 0.98% in both ears, 51 out of 5184 ears have hearing loss. 29 (1.1 %) newborn had hearing loss of various degrees, 22 of them were bilateral and 7 newborn had unilateral hearing loss.

Discussion and conclusion: The prevalence of hearing loss in our medical facility is 11 out of 1000 newborn suffer from hearing loss of various degrees. From this study we concluded that it is important to make the public aware of the value and importance of hearing screening at the earliest possible opportunity also UNHS should be made mandatory in order to allow for early detection and management of hearing loss. Keywords: Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, UNHS, Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions, TEOAEs, Auditory Brain Stem Response, ABR, Hearing loss

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