Mr Andrew Geyl1
1Sydney Children's Hospital Randwick, Randwick, Australia
Biography:
Andrew Geyl has more than 30 years experience as an audiologist, and 20 of those involved with the NSW neonatal hearing screening, SWISH. He has a special interest in neonatal hearing diagnostics and management.
Abstract
Background:
Sydney Children’s Hospital is one of the 3 centres performing neonatal diagnostic assessment in NSW (SWISH). In the more than 20 years of SWISH we have assessed many thousands of babies, of which around 20 % have had a conductive hearing loss (CHL).
For many neonates the CHL is an incidental finding that does not have a clear, unified, state-wide evidence-based protocol for management.
In our 2023 UNHS presentation we introduced this topic and discussed whether bone conduction should always be used at the initial appointment, and be used, and when to refer for specialist treatment.
Since then, many clinicians have contacted us for more clarity regarding the predictive value of data available at the time of the initial diagnostic ABR to inform effective follow up time frames and ensure a timely referral pathway. This presentation will provide updated results and discuss the implications for neonatal hearing assessment programs.
Method:
A retrospective review of patient records from 2002 to 2024, including only babies that had no risk factors for a conductive hearing loss, recording if and when a patient’s tympanometry became normal.
Results:
There are a variety of data available at the time of the initial appointment which, in combination and separately, can help clinicians determine which babies are likely to experience resolution of middle ear dysfunction, and conversely which babies go on to have recurrent or chronic otitis media until at least the age of twelve months.