A comparison of oto-acoustic emissions and brain stem electric response audiometry in the normal newborn and babies admitted to a special care baby unit.

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials and oto-acoustic emissions have been recorded in 30 normal newborns and in 112 infants admitted to a special care baby unit as part of a study to determine whether these tests can be used to detect the hearing impaired infant. All the ears tested in the normal newborns, where the infant was quiet enough to complete the test, produced a brain stem electric response at a stimulus level less than or equal to 53 dB nHL (dB relative to normal hearing) and 96% produced an oto-acoustic emission at the highest level tested of 41 dB nHL. The mean threshold of the oto-acoustic emission in the normal newborns was 17.7 dB lower than the mean brain stem electric response threshold. The range of thresholds were similar. In the special care infants 84% of ears produced a brain stem electric response at a screening level of 43 dB nHL and 81% of ears produced an oto-acoustic emission at a screening level of 31 dB nHL.