BACKGROUND: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) affects 10% of children with bacterial meningitis. Ideally survivors should have their hearing tested as soon as possible after meningitis but this is difficult with existing techniques. We evaluated the new method of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) for this purpose.
METHODS: We studied 124 children with bacterial meningitis. Before discharge from hospital, all children were tested with OAEs, auditory brainstem responses (ABR), and tympanometry. ABR was used as the “gold standard” for hearing loss.
RESULTS: We were able to perform both OAEs and ABR on 110 children. Seven children had hearing loss (2 SNHL and 5 conductive hearing loss). All children with hearing loss were identified by OAEs; ie. sensitivity of OAEs was 1.00(95% CI: 0.59, 1.00). A further 9 children with normal hearing also failed OAEs: ie. specificity was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.97).
CONCLUSIONS: OAE screening in children recovering from meningitis is well tolerated. The test has sufficient sensitivity and specificity for clinical use.
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Martin Richardson (spn. by A.F.Williams)
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Richardson, M., Reid, A., Williamson, T. et al. Otoacoustic Emissions As A Screening Test for Hearing Loss in Children Recovering From Bacterial Meningitis. Pediatr Res 42, 401 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199709000-00117
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199709000-00117
