Abstract
Past five years of age, the main complaint of children who are hard of hearing is that they have difficulty in learning. AIM: Compare these results to suspected hearing loss, through triage with the exams of evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAE) transients (TEOAE) and by distortion product (DPEOAE), using data from audiometric exams; observe which of the procedures of EOAE better respond to school children triage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To evaluate 451 school children, grade one students, from the public schools in São Luís. At school, otoscopic exams with the removal of wax and the TEOAE and DPEOAE exams were also carried on all school children. Audiometry and acoustic impedance were performed on the children who presented alterations at any point during the TEOAE and/or DPEOAE exams. STUDY DESIGN: Transversal-Prospective. RESULTS: 18.6% had ear wax. As for the TEOAE and DPEOAE triage, no significant statistic difference was found when comparing the results of the exams which failed only in the TEOAE and DOEOAE with audiometric exam data, nonetheless, when comparing this failure data to both of these exams there was a significant difference (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Both EOAE procedures responded well to the hearing triage in school children.