PURPOSE: To analyze the otoacoustic emissions (OAE) of infants exposed to ototoxic drugs during the neonatal period. METHODS: It was carried out the testing of transient OAE (TOAE) and distortion product OAE (DPOAE) with 40 infants: 14 infants exposed to ototoxic drugs for, at least, five days (study group), and 26 infants with no risks for hearing loss and no complications during the neonatal period (control group). The statistical analysis was performed using the non-parametric tests of Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney, and the confidence interval for the average technique. RESULTS: Lower levels of response and signal/noise relation of DPOAE were observed in the study group, with statistically significant values for the frequencies of 3000, 6000 and 8000 Hz. CONCLUSION: The action of the ototoxic drugs can be observed by the typical response of OAE in high frequencies, which was better evaluated by the DPOAE.
Infant; Risk factors; Otoacoustic emissions, spontaneous
