Chandrasekar Madhan, Selvarajan Heramba Ganapathy
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research Institute (DU), Tamil Nadu, Porur, 600116 India.
Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2022 Aug;74(Suppl 1):639-650. doi: 10.1007/s12070-021-02444-9. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
Newborn hearing screening in India is gaining momentum and more programs are getting established every year. We need to know their performance levels, strengths and weaknesses to provide suggestions for building effective future programs. The study aimed to report the status of Newborn Hearing Screening (NHS) program in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. A questionnaire on "Newborn Hearing Screening Survey" was developed and sent to 80 sites with NHS facility all over Tamil Nadu, India. The information collected was subjected to descriptive statistical analyses. On a 95% return rate, private sector contribution towards NHS program are the highest and most of the private hospitals have outsourced the NHS program. In most of the sites, audiologists are incharge of the NHS program and carried out the NHS testing. The majority of sites (67.1%) follow selective screening such as high risk factors, doctor's referral and admission at NICU. The preferred testing was TEOAE in the screening program. NHS protocol was found to be variable at each site and for each patient. The time between second screening and diagnostic testing went up to 3-6 months. However, there is a lack of organized system for documenting the program outcome. The result of this study calls the need for wider implementation of UNHS and to introduce a centralised state or local reporting system for documenting and tracking the infants with hearing impairment.
印度的新生儿听力筛查正在兴起，每年都有更多项目得以设立。我们需要了解它们的运行水平、优势与不足，以便为构建有效的未来项目提供建议。该研究旨在报告印度泰米尔纳德邦新生儿听力筛查（NHS）项目的现状。一份关于“新生儿听力筛查调查”的问卷被制定出来，并发送给印度泰米尔纳德邦所有设有NHS设施的80个地点。收集到的信息进行了描述性统计分析。在95%的回复率下，私营部门对NHS项目的贡献最大，且大多数私立医院已将NHS项目外包。在大多数地点，听力学家负责NHS项目并进行NHS检测。大多数地点（67.1%）采用选择性筛查，如高危因素、医生转诊和入住新生儿重症监护病房。筛查项目中首选的检测方法是瞬态诱发耳声发射（TEOAE）。发现每个地点和每个患者的NHS方案都存在差异。第二次筛查与诊断性检测之间的时间长达3至6个月。然而，缺乏记录项目结果的有组织系统。这项研究的结果表明，需要更广泛地实施普遍新生儿听力筛查（UNHS），并引入一个集中的州或地方报告系统，以记录和跟踪听力受损婴儿。
