Response/Passed Otoacoustic Emission Newborn Hearing Screening in the NICU: Profile of Failed Auditory Brainstem

ABSTRACT. Objective. Incidence of a specific patternof auditory responses, absent auditory brainstem re-sponses (ABRs) and present otoacoustic emissions(OAEs), in newborn hearing screening in a regional peri-natal center neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is de-scribed. This profile, labeled auditory neuropathy or au-ditory dyssynchrony (AN/AD), is a dysfunction inneural/brainstem transmission that occurs in individualswhose outer hairs cells are functioning normally. Al-though the AN/AD profile has been associated with var-ious risk factors, incidence and prediction are unknown. Method. Analysis of electrophysiologic measures andmedical record reviews of the first 22 months of theuniversal newborn hearing–screening program was con-ducted. Association of the AN/AD profile was evaluatedwith the following factors: gender, gestational age, oto-toxic drug regimen, low birth weight, hyperbiliru-binemia, hydrocephalus, low Apgar score, anoxia, respi-ratory distress syndrome, pulmonary hypertension,intraventricular hemorrhage, multiple birth, seizure ac-tivity, and family history.