Is it useful to repeat the hearing screening test before hospital discharge?

UNLABELLED: Universal newborn hearing screening in infants without hearing-risk factors is performed in many settings using otoacoustic emissions (OAE) within the first hours of life. A proportion of initial 'referrals' reflect transient, non-pathological factors rather than genuine congenital hearing loss; minimising these is crucial to programme effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the usefulness of repeating OAE screening before hospital discharge in neonates without hearing-risk factors who have an abnormal result on their first test.

RESULTS

A total of 2,667 neonates were studied. On OAE-1, 29.65% had at least one ear with a refer result; of these, 93% underwent repeat testing, with 91% achieving a pass on OAE-2. Overall, 95.46% had a pass by discharge.

CONCLUSION

The findings and the literature support performing a second hearing-screening test before hospital discharge in infants who did not pass the first. This approach improves detection rates while reducing parental anxiety associated with an abnormal result and decreasing referrals that may contribute to loss to follow-up.