Characterization of otoacoustic emission services carried out in hospital graduate internship

Abstract

Introduction: Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) is a simple and quick auditory sensory assessment, with neonatal hearing screening (NHS) as its main clinical application. In 2012, the Ministry of Health (MH) developed the Neonatal Hearing Screening Care Guidelines, with the aim of offering guidance to multidisciplinary teams for the care of hearing health in childhood, especially NHS. Objective: To characterize OAE exams performed on newborns during hospital graduation in relation to the general guidelines. Method: Descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study, with tabulated items from the exams performed. The tabulation contained the following data: date and place of the test and/or retest; date of birth, sex and weight of the baby; mother’s age; type of birth; gestational age; existence and type of hearing impairment risk indicators; results; referrals for retesting for examination of the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential (ABR) and auditory monitoring. Results: 72 exams were performed, 76.39% passed and 23.71% failed. Of these failures, 58.82% passed the retest, 23.53% failed and were sent to the ABR, 11.77% did not attend the retest and 5.88% presented risk and were sent directly to the ABR. In the sample, 16.67% were found to be risk indicators, 50.00% of which were due to syphilis infection. Conclusion: We concluded that the internship activities partially followed the guidelines of the MH guidelines, however, for the newborn at risk, due to the lack of ABR equipment in the service, OAE was performed as the first test and referral for the auditory potential evoked in another health unit.