Occurrence of Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder in Kuwaiti infants at risk of hearing impairment

Abstract

Objective: The primary goal of this study is to determine the occurrence of Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD) in a group of infants with known risk factors.

Design: We retrospectively analyzed the occurrence of ANSD in 317 infants at IBN SINA Hospital, Clinical Neurophysiology Department, Kuwait. Each infant was evaluated based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) one or more known ANSD risk factors, (2) high-frequency tympanometry using 1000 Hz, (3) normal transient evoked otoacoustic emission, and (4) severely abnormal or absent auditory brainstem response.

Results: Twenty-three of the 317 infants were diagnosed with permanent sensorineural hearing loss. Of these 23 infants, nine (2.83%) were diagnosed with ANSD. This group included six boys and three girls.

Conclusions: The occurrence of ANSD in our group of infants indicated that ANSD is not a rare auditory disorder. Both prematurity and hyperbilirubinemia were observed in the infants with ANSD.

Keywords:

• Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder
• Sensorineural hearing loss
• Transient evoked otoacoustic emission
• Auditory brainstem response
• Risk factors