Wali Hamzah A, Mazlan Rafidah
Audiology Programme, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Audiology, Ohud Hospital, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
J Audiol Otol. 2018 Jan;22(1):20-27. doi: 10.7874/jao.2017.00227. Epub 2017 Oct 24.
Although ethnicity effect on wideband absorbance (WBA) findings was evident for adults, its effect on neonates has not been established yet. This study aimed to investigate the influence of ethnicity on WBA measured at 0 daPa from neonates with healthy middle ear functions.
Participants were 99 normal, healthy, full-term newborn babies with chronological age between 11 and 128 hours of age (mean=46.73, standard deviation=26.36). A cross-sectional study design was used to measure WBA at 16 one-third octave frequency points from 99 neonates comprising of three ethnic groups: Malays (n=58), Chinese (n=13) and Indians (n=28). A total of 165 ears (83.3%) that passed a battery of tests involving distortion product otoacoustic emissions, 1 kHz tympanometry and acoustic stapedial reflex were further tested using WBA. Moreover, body size measurements were recorded from each participant.
The Malays and Indians neonates showed almost identical WBA response across the frequency range while the Chinese babies showed lower absorbance values between 1.25 kHz and 5 kHz. However, the differences observed in WBA between the three ethnic groups were not statistically significant (=0.23). Additionally, there were no statistically significant difference in birth weight, height and head circumference among the three ethnic groups.
This study showed that Malays, Chinese and Indians neonates were not significantly different in their WBA responses. In conclusion, to apply for the ethnic-specific norms is not warranted when testing neonates from population constitute of these three ethnicities.
尽管种族对成年人宽带吸收率（WBA）结果的影响已很明显，但其对新生儿的影响尚未明确。本研究旨在调查种族对中耳功能正常的新生儿在0 daPa时测量的WBA的影响。
研究对象为99名正常、健康的足月新生儿，实际年龄在11至128小时之间（平均=46.73，标准差=26.36）。采用横断面研究设计，对99名新生儿在16个1/3倍频程频率点测量WBA，这些新生儿分为三个种族：马来人（n = 58）、中国人（n = 13）和印度人（n = 28）。对通过包括畸变产物耳声发射、1 kHz鼓室图和声镫骨反射在内的一系列测试的总共165只耳朵（83.3%）进一步进行WBA测试。此外，记录了每位参与者的身体尺寸测量值。
马来人和印度新生儿在整个频率范围内显示出几乎相同的WBA反应，而中国婴儿在1.25 kHz至5 kHz之间显示出较低的吸收率值。然而，三个种族之间在WBA上观察到的差异无统计学意义（P=0.23）。此外，三个种族之间的出生体重、身高和头围无统计学显著差异。
本研究表明，马来、中国和印度新生儿的WBA反应无显著差异。总之，对由这三个种族组成的人群中的新生儿进行测试时，没有必要应用特定种族的标准。
