Acoustic Investigation of Newborn Infants

Abstract

The acoustic investigation, which comprises 2000 newborn infants, has shown, as in earlier investigations, that a child can hear even during its first post-natal half-hour. 96.1% had positive auropalpebral reflex. In 0.6% the reflex was doubtful and in 3.3% it was negative. Sooner or later all cases became positive with the exception of 5 which were premature. Of these, 4 died on the second day after birth. The fifth, which is now 3 years old, has a serious hearing defect.

When one examines the 66 cases in which a reflex could not be obtained at birth, no sure delivery injuries can be detected. There is, moreover, nothing else remarkable except the large number of premature cases. In almost half of all surviving prematures, no acoustic reaction could be obtained at delivery. In the cases where the reflex was negative even after 48 hours, the number of prematures was 68.7%.