A comparison of auditory brainstem response thresholds in infants born with or without cleft lip and/or palate and otitis media with effusion

Sammanfattning: The prevalence of otitis media with effusion (OME) is much higher in infants born with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) than without CLP. It would be interesting to know if the related hearing thresholds are poorer in infants with CLP than without, which could have a possible impact on the early development of hearing, communication and speech. The aim of the study was therefore to investigate the early hearing thresholds in infants with OME with and without CLP. The present study investigated the hearing thresholds with auditory brainstem response (ABR) for 60 infants 30 infants with CLP and OME and 30 infants without CLP with OME in the control group. The mean age at the time of assessment for infants with CLP and OME was 10 weeks for boys and 7 weeks for girls. In the control group the mean age was 15 weeks for boys and 16 weeks for girls. The results showed no statistical difference in the ABR thresholds between the infants with CLP and OME and those with OME without CLP. There was no significant difference in ABR thresholds due to cleft type. No gender difference was found within the CLP group or within the control group. Therefore, OME seems to be the only responsible factor for the elevated ABR thresholds at the newborn hearing screening for these two groups of individuals.