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Progress Report

This study was commenced from January 2005.  The study is being conducted as collaborative effort between the Department of Neonatology; Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Egmore, Chennai & The KKR ENT Hospital and Research Institute (P) Ltd., Chennai.  The permission for the above Project has been obtained from the Government of Tamil Nadu as per their letter no. 65444/E1/04-1 dated 08.02.05. The study is conducted every working day of the week and approximately 20 - 25 children are screened everyday.

These new borns are screened with the DPOAE testing for the presence of hearing loss.  There are two distinct groups which are screened which includes full term babies with no associated risk factors and high risk babies which includes babies with:

  1. Low birth weight - wt <2.5 Kg
  2. Fetal distress
  3. Hyperbilinibinemia
  4. Apgar score from 0 - 3
  5. Neonatal infections
  6. Maternal Rubella during pregnancy
  7. Congenital malformation of ear, nose, throat
Approximately 1100 children have been screened upto date.  The analysis has been carried out for the first 500 children.  Out of these 500 children 148 children belong to high risk and 352 children belong to normal birth category with no risk factors. 148 children who belonged to the high risk group were constituted by these following categories:
  1. Low birth weight - wt <2.5Kg - 115 children
  2. Fetal distress - 47 children
  3. Hyperbilinibinemia - 3 children

It was found that 3 children failed the initial tests for Oto Acoustic Emission out of these 1 child belong to high risk group and 2 children belong to normal birth group.  These patients have been asked to revert back to the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and also to KKR ENT Hospital for a repeat Oto Acoustic Emission testing and also Evoked Response Audiometry.  If the child fails the second tests as well, the patient will be counseled and rehabilitation will be commenced.

Rehabilitation has been found to be useful if implemented early.  Rehabilitation of these children would include fitting of hearing aids, speech stimulation as well as special education.  If these measure do not help the child, the eventual results will be a Cochlear Implantation.  It is hoped that early intervention will definitely lead to a better quality of life not only to these children but also to the affected parents as well.