Evaluation of the use of a questionnaire to detect hearing loss in babies in China.

A questionnaire was used to screen hearing of 1020 babies 6-8 months in China. All babies failing the questionnaire and 10% of those who passed were tested using auditory brainstem audiometry (ABR). Babies with unilateral or bilateral hearing thresholds 30 dBnHL or more were investigated to determine the cause of the hearing impairment. Sixty-seven failing the questionnaire were tested and 23 were confirmed to have a hearing loss, 20 with bilateral hearing impairment. The causes were: 13 otitis media with effusion (OME), one hypoxia, one genetic and five unknown. One child with an OME related hearing loss passed the screen. The sensitivity of the questionnaire was estimated to be 70%, specificity 96%.