The relationship between Oto-Acoustic Emission (OAE) examination results and premature birth in the ENT-Neurotology Department at Prof. Dr. I.G.N.G. Ngoerah General Hospital

Background: Early detection is crucial, especially for children with risk factors for hearing impairment, as 50% of newborns with risk factors experience hearing loss from birth. Children diagnosed with hearing impairment early (before the age of 6 months) and given intervention at 6 months achieve significantly better language development than those who receive intervention after 6 months. The OAE examination is ideal for assessing the integrity of outer hair cells in the cochlea and for screening, as it allows for testing newborns as early as one day old within just a few minutes. Method: This study employs a descriptive-analytical design to analyze the correlation between OAE examination results and premature birth. Data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate methods with IBM SPSS Statistics 27 software. Univariate analysis was used to describe the characteristics of study subjects and other variables, presented in frequency distribution tables. Bivariate analysis aimed to assess the relationship between OAE results and premature birth. All analyzed data will be presented in tables and percentages. Results: The study results indicate a significant relationship (p < 0.05) between OAE results and premature birth, with p < 0.01 showing a highly significant outcome. Prematurely born patients were 0.3 times more likely to have a high-risk OAE refer result compared to non-premature patients (PR 0.3, 95% CI 0.14–0.62). The correlation between OAE results and premature birth was positive, meaning that the higher the incidence of premature birth, the higher the likelihood of an OAE refer result. Conclusion: A significant correlation was found between premature birth and OAE results.