Detecting hearing impairment in premature babies

A Deafness Research UK team at the University of Oxford, lead by Dr Zedong Jiang, studied hearing impairment in newborn babies caused by a lack of oxygen during labour and delivery.

[Project grant, 2003-2007]

Babies who do not get sufficient oxygen, particularly premature babies, are prone to varying degrees of hearing impairment, leading to language problems and learning difficulties in later life.

Early intervention with therapeutic measures is crucial for protecting and improving the auditory function in the brain (central hearing). This relies on us understanding how lack of oxygen at birth impairs hearing and, in particular, how this can be detected early on.

Following a promising pilot study funded by Deafness Research UK, Dr Jiang went on to use a new technique for detecting central hearing problems in newborn babies.

Initial results showed that central hearing is impaired in babies who have suffered lack of oxygen and that their condition often becomes worse over the days following birth. More detailed information has been obtained using the technique evaluated in this study and the central impairment has so far been seen to persist through the first month after birth.

These results have lead to a better understanding of the brain damage that can occur in these babies, thus contributing to the study of the benefits of early intervention with therapeutic measures to prevent further damage to the central hearing system.

The second part of the study assessed how useful the technique used to detect the hearing impairment was in comparison to previous techniques. The new technique revealed the strongest abnormality for babies that had the most severe and prolonged oxygen deprivation. This was an improvement on previous techniques and thus gives doctors a potential new tool to detect central hearing impairment early on.