Evaluation of the Hearing in Children of Mild and Severe Pre-Eclamptic Mothers

Abstract Aim: This study is realized with the aim to investigate whether or not there is congenital and progressive hearing loss in the children aged between 1 and 4 whose mothers experienced mild or severe preeclampsia in their pregnancy. Material and Methods: Total 60 children participated in the study whose mothers had mild preeclampsia [20 children] and severe preeclampsia [20 children] and whose mothers were healthy [20 children] for the control group. After the Ear-Nose-Throat [ENT] examination, immitansmetric examination, otoacoustic emission test, Automatic Auditory Brainstem Response [A-ABR] measurement and Free Field [FF] audiometry were applied to the children. Result: As a result of audiological evaluation, Type C tympanogram was observed in the right ear of one child in the group with mild preeclampsia, and in the left ears of total four children in the group with severe preeclampsia [2 children] and in the healthy group [2 children]. No ipsilateral reflex was obtained in the right ears of total two children in the groups with mild [1 child] and severe [1 child] preeclampsia, and in the left ear of one child in the group with severe preeclampsia. One child in the group with mild preeclampsia did not pass from the OAE test. Normal immitansmetric findings and passed result from OAE test were obtained in the second audiological evaluation. All children passed the Automatic Auditory Brainstem Response [A-ABR] test. Hearing thresholds between 125-4000 Hz were obtained in the FF and at 30 dB. Conclusion: When comparison is made between the hearings of children whose mothers were healthy and have experienced preeclampsia; normal hearing findings were obtained for groups, and it is considered that preeclampsia did not cause any congenital and/or progressive hearing loss by it.