Evoked Potential

Otoacoustic Emissions in Infants and Children

Key Points

  • Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are excellent screening tools for detection of hearing loss in newborns
  • OAEs are an integral part of the pediatric diagnostic test battery. They can help determine site-of-lesion and can be used as cross-checks against other results from the test battery
  • Published literature is available to guide us in using OAEs in screening and diagnostic test batteries
  • OAEs are excellent tools for use in identifying hearing loss in a screening situation and as site-of-lesion and cross-check measures in a diagnostic setting
  • Abnormal OAE measures, together with normal middle ear measurs and hearing loss, lead us to suspect there is OHC loss
    • In this case, it is reasonable to suspect that the cochlear amplifier is compromised and hearing aids are an appropriate rehabilitation strategy
  • Management is more difficult if the OAEs are robust but pure tone and speech audiometry indicate a hearing loss
  • These test outcomes, along with acoustic reflex and ABR test results, may be consistent with the diagnosis of ANSD
  • If the child has this diagnosis, the approach to rehabilitation is not as clear and may include cochlear implants
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