Response to the Letter to the Editor regarding 'Otoacoustic emissions in newborn hearing screening: A systematic review of the effects of different protocols on test outcomes'

摘要

We thank Dr. Erik Berninger for his comments and the opportunity to clarify a few points from our work. The aim of our systematic review was to show the effects of different screening protocols on OAE test outcomes. We considered the effects of age at screening, the frequencies screened, the SNR pass criteria and retest protocols on the referral rates, the positive predictive values and false positive rates. The aim of Table 1 of our paper was to capture the failure rates for the initial OAE tests from the studies reviewed, to showcase the challenges with the initial OAE test. In the Berninger and Westling paper it was mentioned on page 730 (first paragraph under Results) that "approximately 91% of the newborns were classified as meeting normal pass criteria on both ears at the initial TEOAE test...". This statement led to our calculation of the 9% referral rate at the initial test that appears in Table 1. We fully agree with Dr. Berninger's statement in his letter to the editor about the substantial improvements in the efficiency of their screening process when the OAE tests were repeated.