Prevalence of deafness and hearing screening in newborns in Isfahan

Hearing impairment screening in newborns is a prompt action to identify those who suffer from deafness or hearing loss disorder. This procedure is aimed at early diagnosis of those cases in which quick intervention could prevent subsequent defects and impairments. Evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAE) test is a screening test which is used to identify patients with hearing problems. This study was conducted to timely diagnose hearing disorder among newborns in order to prevent their verbal disorder through early interventions. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study which was carried out on 1232 newborns in Baharestan Hospital, Isfahan, in 2009-2010. Newborns were enrolled during their first month and they were evaluated by EOAE test. RESULTS: The prevalence of hearing loss in this study was 4.8 per 1000 newborns. Those newborns whose responses to the test were more than 60% were accepted in the test. Results of the tests in 50% of newborns who were studied in 2 phases were found negative without risk factors but the rest of subjects had risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: According to prevalence of hearing impairment in this study which could affect infant’s verbal skill, hearing screening and efficiency evaluation of hearing screening centers in Iran seems to be necessary.