EVALUATION OF HEARING IMPAIRMENT IN VERY LOW BIRTH WEIGHT NEONATES BY OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS AND BRAINSTEM EVOKED RESPONSE AUDIOMETRY

Objective: The study aimed at investigating the diagnostic performance of two sequential otoacoustic emissions and Brainstem evoked response audiometry in detecting hearing impairment in very low birth weight neonates. A Methods: total of 102 very low birth weight neonates admitted in Neonatal intensive care unit, Department of Pediatrics were screened by Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) pre-discharge (>34 weeks post-menstrual age). At the follow up visit i.e. at 6 weeks to 3 months corrected age both DPOAE and BERA (Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry) was done. The results showed a Male preponderance was observed in our Results: study (M: F=54:48). For the Left ear Sensitivity, Specicity, Positive Predictive Value and Negative Predictive value of OAE 1 was 100%, 78%, 8.33% and 100% respectively. For the Right ear Sensitivity, Specicity, Positive Predictive Value and Negative Predictive value was OAE 1 100%, 78.22%, 4.35% and 100% respectively. For the Left ear Sensitivity, Specicity, Positive Predictive Value and Negative Predictive value of OAE 2 was 100%, 100%, 100% and 100% respectively. For the Right ear Sensitivity, Specicity, Positive Predictive Value and Negative Predictive value was OAE 2 100%, 100%, and 99% respectively. Conclusion: Though OAE cannot replace BERA for detection of sensorineural hearing loss a 2-step sequential OAE has shown to have benecial diagnostic performance