Effect of the number of averaged responses in transient evoked otoacoustic emissions on the results of neonatal hearing screening.

This study examined the effect of the number of accepted responses in transient evoked otoacoustic emissions on the results of neonatal hearing screening programmes. The ILO88 Otodynamics Analyzer Quickscreen programme was used for all testing, and a three-stage procedure was adopted by averaging 20, 30, and 260 low-noise samples in total. The results were recorded after each stage of the testing in those cases in which, after the first 20 accepted responses, the "pass" criteria were met. Under these circumstances, 117 ears were included in the study from a total number of 334 screened ears. It was concluded that 20 averaged quiet responses are adequate for screened newborn babies to pass the test if the conditions of the "pass" criteria are fulfilled at this stage. In the rest of the newborn babies, testing should be continued using a larger number of clicks. For diagnostic and clinical purposes, the full 260 quiet samples must be used since the results indicated statistically better scores in response and reproducibility measures after the 260 averaged responses.