2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
Hearing Screening Methods and Outcomes for Infants Born to COVID-Positive Mothers at a Large Academic Medical Center
The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States in early 2020 introduced challenges for birth hospitals to perform newborn hearing screenings safely. In fact, many newborn screening programs were forced to shut down due to safety concerns, thus, challenging the mandate of completing screenings prior to hospital discharge (JCIH, 2019). Yet, it is unknown if maternal COVID infection increases the risk an infant will have hearing loss, increasing the importance of performing screenings. The Audiology Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center implemented an inpatient remote method for screening babies born to COVID-19 positive mothers via automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) hearing screening. This screening method was implemented to reduce staff exposure to the virus and the use of personal protective equipment. More than 50 babies born to COVID-positive mothers were screened utilizing this remote method from April to December 2020. Additionally, babies born to COVID-positive mothers were screened via a traditional AABR method from January to September 2021. The screening results of both groups were compared to the traditional AABR hearing screening results of neonates born to COVID-negative mothers during the same period.
Our study questions were (1) Are infants born to COVID-positive mothers at greater risk of hearing loss than infants born to COVID-negative mothers? and, (2) Did our remote hearing screening procedure result in a greater number of false-positive or false-negative findings than our traditional screening approach? Preliminary findings indicate a higher inpatient hearing screening fail rate for the neonates born to COVID-positive mothers. This poster will describe those results and the results of follow-up outpatient screening of those babies. In addition, details of the alternative screening method that was implemented during the early months of the pandemic for babies born to COVID-positive mothers will be presented.
- Describe the challenges of providing hearing screening during a pandemic
- Understand the effect COVID-19 may have on newborn hearing screening results
- Appreciate an alternative method for completing newborn hearing screening
Poster:
3353554_15035BrittanyDay.pdf
Presenter: Brittany Day
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ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
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ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
xx
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -