Hearing assessment of nicu graduates at a tertiary care hospital in southern rajasthan: a hospital based study

Hearing impairment is one the most critical sensory impairments with significant social and psychological consequences.
Objective: To determine the hearing outcome of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit graduates at a tertiary care hospital at Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Methods: This study was a hospital based prospective observational study. 3485 newborns admitted at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) were included in this study. This study was conducted at Department of Pediatrics, RNT Medical College, Udaipur, Rajasthan. Neonates admitted in Neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital were subjected to Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) for their hearing assessment. Referred cases were subjected to a second screening and those referred even at the second screening were subjected to Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR).
Results: In this study of 3485 NICU graduates, the prevalence of hearing defects was found to be 8.3 per thousand. Hearing defects were significantly higher in premature (p 0.029), very low birth weight (p 0.017) and extremely low birth weight infants (p<0.00001). Most common co-morbidities in newborns diagnosed with hearing impairment was neonatal jaundice (37.9%) followed by respiratory distress syndrome (31%) and perinatal asphyxia (20.7%).
Conclusion: There is high incidence of hearing loss in NICU admitted newborns. OAE and ABR both should be performed for complete evaluation of hearing. Important risk factors include prematurity and low birth weight.