Late effects of neonatal jaundice on the afferent and efferent hearing systems

The aim of this study was to To examine the effect of hyperbilirubinemia on the afferent and efferent hearing system in term and late preterm (≥ 34 weeks) children who have receive phototherapy and/or exchange transfusion therapy in the first month of life due to hyperbilirubinemia and undergone hearing screening and have come to school and to determine speech comprehension skills in background noise by evaluating speech comprehension thresholds in noise. The study consisted of 60 children aged 6-10 years with normal hearing and 60 children with normal hearing who do not have a history of treatment Pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, auditory brainstem responses, otoacoustic emission and contralateral suppression test as well as speech comprehension in noise test were performed on all participants. When the amount of suppression was compared in the study group compared to the control group, a significant difference was found in all frequencies in group 3. In the HINT test, the study and control groups were compared for 4 different environments. While there was no significant difference in the results of Group 3 participants in a quiet environment; Signal to noise ratio values were found to be significantly lower in the other three environments with noise. As a result; It was determined that the efferent hearing system and the ability to understand in noise were affected compared to normal children at term and 34 weeks and over late preterm, especially in school-age children with TSB 25 mg/dl and normal hearing who received hyperbilirubinemia treatment. Because HINT and MOC tests are reliable, cheap and easy to apply, to addition them in of traditional hearing test methods in the hearing screening of school-age children with a history of hyperbilirubinemia will be effective in increasing the school success of these children.