Serial measurements of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in healthy newborns and in newborns with perinatal infection.

Detection of hearing impairment in early childhood is difficult. We serially recorded transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) to search for signs of ototoxicity in term, healthy newborns and compared the results to a second group of term babies treated for perinatally acquired bacterial infection with ampicillin plus either cefotaxime or plus aminoglycoside. At initial evaluation, in the group of 45 healthy children born at term, well reproducible emissions were observed in all but two children. In each of these two, initially well reproducible TEOAEs were detected in one ear only. At the time of the second recording (mean at day 8.5) excellent emissions were seen in all ears of all…