Over the years, newborn hearing screening programs have advanced to screen for congenital hearing loss as early as the first day of a baby’s life. Yet, some conditions are still missed during newborn screening that is performed with OAE alone. Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD) will pass a screen as normal Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE), as these infants have normal cochlear function. Using Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) to screen the entire hearing pathway can help identify auditory nerve abnormality.
Natus recently published an article, which highlights the importance of considering changing approaches newborn hearing screening programs to optimize the use of AABR as a primary screening protocol, with OAE as a secondary screening recommendation in the absence of clear response from AABR.
The article is available on Natus’ website: READ FULL ARTICLE
Yes, we should change the primary newborn test to AABR , instead of OAE