Distortion evoked otoacoustic emission using GSI 70 analyzer for neonatal screening.

OBJECTIVE

Following the recommendation of the United State National Institute of Health Consensus Conference in 1993, otoacoustic emissions (OAE) are now used internationally for hearing screening. The GSI 70 OAE screener provides the means for carrying out OAE recordings within a short period of time and includes an automatic evaluation of results. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of recordings in comparison with available standards in brainstem audiometry.

METHOD

OAE recorded in 29 hearing-impaired suspected infants and young children (aged 1 months-7 years old) in order to compare the result of the GSI 70 screener with the result of ABR. This study was conducted in the outpatient clinic of the Tokyo University Hospital.

RESULT

Our study showed that the GSI 70 screener has higher false negative rate compared with ABR results (P<0.01). Consequently, an OAE measuring method, is also provides high sensitivity and easy to use. However, there was no trend toward increased refer rates with increased age.

CONCLUSION

Our findings show that the GSI 70 screener can meet the demands of systematic hearing screening in infants and young children, although there is a tendency to miss cochlear impaired cases.