Universal newborn hearing screening and transient evoked otoacoustic emission: new concepts in Brazil.

The goal of this paper is to present a Brazilian universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) program based on transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and study the hearing impairment prevalence in this population. From September 1996 to August 1999, 4631 babies were born at the maternity ward of Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo, Brazil and 4196 (90.6%) had a hearing screening test performed before discharge. The equipment ILO88, 'quickscreen' mode and the 2 stages protocol were used. From the 4196 babies tested, 4123 (98.2%) had a normal test and 73 (1.8%) failed at the first stage screening. The follow-up was performed in 60 (82%) of those 73 babies and 10 (2.3-1000 live births) had a confirmed hearing loss, three without hearing risk factors. The TEOAE UNHS program was a feasible and accurate method to detect hearing disorders at an early stage.