The present report concerns hearing screening in 700 high-risk (pre-term) infants using transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and brain stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP). The findings of 7 years’ study evaluate screening of low birth weight neonates at increased risk of hearing impairment. A total of 700 infants (347 girls and 353 boys) were tested: 406 infants with very low birth weight (VLBW) under 1500 g, 163 infants had extremely low birth weight - under 1000 g. From the presented results in this sample of 700 high-risk infants 18 (2.6%) were identified to have a sensorineural hearing loss: 11 infants had bilateral severe to profound losses, and 2 had unilateral losses, and 5 had medium forms of hearing impairment. Although the etiology of hearing loss in these 18 infants cannot be specifically elucidated, RDS (respiratory distress syndrome) and its treatment appear to place an infant at risk for hearing loss. Other frequent clinical complications include abnormal CNS (central nervous system) findings - intracranial haemorrhage into the ventricles or in the area around the ventricles. Premature and low birth weight infants are at risk for intracranial bleeding because of complex anatomical and physiologic processes occurring in this stage of fetal development. Any primary disorder that results in hypoxia may affect an infant’s hearing and neurologic status. A group of 497 neonates treated with gentamicin sulphate and ampicilin usually had an underlying disease or severe infection, including RDS, hypoxia and sepsis, all of which were clinically significant indicators of high risk for auditory pathway dysfunction. The 2.6% incidence of hearing loss in high-risk infants is accepted by the authors as favourable. The results of 7 year’s study confirm a very good standard of initial care of newborns in NICU (neonatal intensive care unite).

        Key words: low birth weight neonates (LBW), hearing loss, TEOAE, BAEP.