Hearing screening in health checkups for 3-year-old children: Evaluation of the practicability of the automated auditory brainstem response test

We performed hearing screening using an automated brainstem response (ABR) system (MAICO: MB11, BERAphone®) in 134 children attending a health checkup program for 3-year-old children, and evaluated the efficacy of this screening method for hearing loss and the present status of hearing screening. The test duration required for a single ear was about 5-6 minutes, which was longer than that required for hearing screening of newborns. Examination of both ears could be accomplished in 120 (89.5%) of the 134 children, which suggests that this method can be adopted as a hearing screening test for 3-year-old children. The screening result was “pass” in 100 children, “unilateral refer” in 13, and “bilateral refer” in 7. Four children who visited medical institutions for “bilateral refer” showed otitis media in both ears. In the “whispered voice test,” in which ≤4 correct answers represents a “refer” result, the mean number of correct answers in children with a unilateral “refer” result was 5.4. Therefore, unilateral hearing loss is difficult to detect using the present hearing screening test. The accuracy of hearing screening is expected to improve with the use of the automated ABR test in 3-year-old children.