| Abstrakt: |
Introduction: Newborn hearing screening enables early identification of congenital hearing loss. However, when considering the Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum physiopathology, for its identification to occur, the use of an appropriate protocol is necessary. Objective: To investigate the impact of the newborn hearing screening law on the ages of diagnosis and intervention of the Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum. Methods: Descriptive and longitudinal retrospective study. 140 participants with an interdisciplinary diagnosis of Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum were included, 97 of whom were male. G1 (n= 102) consisted of children born before the implementation of Federal Law 12,303/10 and G2 (n= 38) born after the law. Variables related to neonatal hearing screening, diagnosis and intervention were considered. Descriptive and inferential analysis of the data was performed, adopting p<0.05. Results: 86.8% of the children in G2 were screened, with a predominance of otoacoustic emissions and a "pass" result being recorded in 15 (45.5%). When comparing the groups, there was a reduction in the mean age at diagnosis from 17.4 to 11.6 months (p=0.035), but there was no difference in the age at the beginning of follow-up in the cochlear implant program (p=0.530) or in the device activation (p= 0.542). This data demonstrates positive changes in the identification of the Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum, but still with important challenges in relation to universality, protocol used and reaching the recommended ages. Conclusion: There was a reduction in the age at diagnosis of children with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum after mandatory neonatal hearing screening, however, diagnosis and intervention still occur late. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
