26
Views
35
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Article

Numerical Assessment of TOAE Screening Results: Currently Used Criteria and their Effect on TOAE Prevalence Figures

, , , &
Pages 672-679 | Received 17 Aug 1995, Accepted 22 Nov 1995, Published online: 08 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

Dirckx JJJ, Daeroers K, Somers Th, Offeciers FE, Govaerts PJ. Numerical assessment of TOAE screening results: currently used criteria and their effect on TOAE prevalence figures. Acta Otolaryngol (Stockh) 1996; 116: 672-679.

The literature on neonatal hearing screening by means of oto-acoustic emissions (OAE's) presents various prevalence figures, and gives little quantitative information on the procedure used to score the recordings. If the OAE test is to be interpreted by users who do not have the opportunity to develop intuitive interpretation skills through extensive training, a clear numerical decision criterion is needed. the present paper discusses the scoring procedure used by 25 teams, which together screen 22, 356 neonates annually. More than 60% of the groups involved in this study use visual interpretation of the recorded OAE response, together with numerical criteria. Amongst the teams, 21 different ways of numerical scoring are used. It is shown that for a given set of OAE recordings, prevalence varies from 61% to 90%, depending on the numerical decision criterion being applied. We conclude that at this moment no consensus exists regarding the numerical criterion to be used when assessing OAE screening results. in view of the strong effect of criteria on the outcome of OAE screening, such consensus is urgently needed, but should be based on sensitivity and specificity figures for each scoring technique.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.