Telemedicine for audiology screening of infants.

Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) and automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) screening were conducted in infants at a distant hospital using remote computing. Eighteen males and twelve females ranging in age from 11-45 days were tested. Both DPOAE and AABR data were recorded using an integrated test system which was connected to the computer network at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Using a broadband Internet connection, an examiner at Utah State University, 200 km away, could control the DPOAE and the ABR equipment. Identical hearing screening results were obtained for face-to-face and telemedicine trials with all infants. The DPOAE means for face-to-face and telemedicine trials were not significantly different at any frequency. In an analysis of variance, there was no significant difference for the test method (F = 0.8, P > 0.05). These results indicate that remote computing is a feasible telemedicine method for providing DPOAE and ABR hearing screening services to infants in rural communities.