[Clinical characteristics and treatment options of hearing impairment caused by hyperbilirubinemia]

SummaryNeonatal hyperbilirubinemia is the most common clinical symptom in neonates. When the concentration of free bilirubin in blood is too high, it crosses through the blood-brain barrier and selectively deposits in specific brain nuclei to cause neurotoxicity and bilirubin neurological dysfunction. The auditory nervous system is highly sensitive to bilirubin. Therefore, auditory neuropathy is the most important or even the only clinical symptom of bilirubin neurological dysfunction. Chronic bilirubin encephalopathy can be classified to three types as mild, moderate and severe，according to the audiological manifestations and other neurological sequelae. Early recognition and intervention of bilirubin-induced hearing impairment is of great significance to improve the speech recognition rate of the referred children. This article reviews the most important studies about the clinical characteristics, pathogenesis and treatment of bilirubin-induced hearing impairment.