School-Age Outcomes in Preterm Children Born with Risk Factors for Hearing Loss: Contralateral Suppression of Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions

We investigated the effect of contralateral suppression of linear transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in 16 preterm children born with risk factors for hearing loss. We evaluated those children, together with a control group of term children, at 8–10 years of age. The magnitude of the TEOAE suppression effect in both ears was significantly smaller in the preterm children than in the term children (p < 0.05). There is increasing evidence of adverse school-age outcomes (including hearing loss) in preterm children. Such outcomes can interfere with the school performance of those infants. The TEOAE suppression effect seems to be a promising early marker of hearing outcomes in preterm infants.