Determination of Risk Factors for Hearing Loss in Babies Admitted to Hearing Screening Unit and Investigating the Impact of These Risk Factors on Screening Test Results

Background: Hearing loss is the most common congenital defect worldwide and seen in every 1-3 of 1000 live births. In this study, we aimed to determine risk factors for hearing loss in babies admitted to Hearing Screening Unit and to investigate the impact of these risk factors on the screening test results.Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 253 babies who underwent hearing screening test at Adana Numune Research and Training Hospital between 1 March 2014 and 30 April 2014. A structured questionnaire form was prepared and applied to the mothers’ of these babies with face-to-face interviews and the results of the Transient Evoked Oto-acoustic Emissions (TEOAE) and the Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) tests were recorded. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U test and LRA were used for data analysis. Results: Mean age of 253 babies was 29.1±45.3 days. Analyses revealed that ratio of failure from the test increased as age of the baby increased (Z= –4.503, p=0.000). Likelihood of failing from hearing test increased as ratio of vaccination against influenza during pregnancy (OR= 4.380, p=0.036), ratio of experiencing a systemic disease during pregnancy (OR= 6.942, p=0.008) and ratio of baby's staying icteric for a long time (OR= 4.198, p=0.040) increased as the result of analysis of some variables which influence failing from the test using LRA. Conclusion: The babies who carry risk factors should be determined beside the necessity of undergoing hearing screening test for every newborn. Hearing loss should be detected in the early period, because these children may achieve speech, cognitive, social and emotional development close to their peers through providing an early and proper hearing device and commencing regular hearing rehabilitation programs