Early identification of hearing loss in childhood

Abstract

Hearing loss is important in the human communication. Hearing loss in children can cause disturbances in speech and language acquisition, and in emotional, educational and social development. The early diagnosis of auditory deficiency allows the precocious intervention and it should be made in the first 6 months of life. Universal neonatal hearing screening is recommended because it evaluates every newborn and not just those presenting hearing loss. Although behavioral tests evaluate the auditory function, the proper tests are the objective ones, such as the otoacoustic emissions and the brainstem evoked auditory potentials. The fact that they are electrophysiologic tests they don´t require the child’s participation and are useful in newborn and children. The otoacoustic emissions evaluates the cochlear function and the evoked auditory potential evaluates the auditory function up to the brainstem. Both tests are used in the neonatal hearing screening although the registration of otoacoustic emissions is the most common due to its fast and easy application.