Universal newborn hearing screening program – success story or a burden: experience from a tertiary care centre in North India

Akshay Bhatnagar; Yadav S. Shyamlal; Ahmad Rizvan; Supreet S. Nayyar; Shailendra Tripathi

doi:10.18203/issn.2454-5929.ijohns20252243

Authors

Akshay Bhatnagar Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Command Hospital Central Command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2868-4760
Yadav S. Shyamlal Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Base Hospital Delhi Cantt, Delhi, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7180-6966
Ahmad Rizvan Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Command Hospital Central Command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8715-4982
Supreet S. Nayyar Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Command Hospital Central Command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5982-6902
Shailendra Tripathi Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Command Hospital Central Command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7665-6864

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-5929.ijohns20252243

Keywords:

Universal newborn hearing screening program, Neonatal SNHL, Congenital SNHL, NICU, Maternal age, Low birth weight

Abstract

Background: Aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of congenital hearing loss in a tertiary care hospital in North India under the Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening Program, with a specific focus on identifying the association between neonatal hearing loss and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, low birth weight, or advanced maternal age.

Methods: A prospective cohort study of all newborns in a tertiary care center over 1.5 years.

Results: A total of 2891 babies were born during the study period, of which 2693 underwent newborn hearing screening, of which 2.4% (n=7) were detected to have neonatal hearing loss. Among the neonates admitted to NICU (n=76), a total of 2.7% (n=2) were confirmed to have hearing loss. None of the babies with low birth weight or with a history of advanced maternal age (>35 years) were detected to have hearing loss.

Conclusions: Our study primarily dealt with evaluating the key outcomes of a universal hearing screening program utilizing distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) and brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA). NICU admission was identified as a specific neonatal risk factor correlating to hearing impairment (2.7%), with minimal or no correlation between low birth weight and increased maternal age.

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