Latent Iron Deficiency at Birth Influences Auditory Neural Maturation in Late Preterm and Term Infants

Bilateral monaural auditory brainstem response (ABR) test would be recorded in each subject with a Bio-logic Navigator Evoked Response System (Bio-logic Systems, USA) between 24 and 48 hours after birth by an audiologist skilled in administering ABR to newborn infants. ABRs shall be performed using 80 dB nHL broadband click stimuli with insert earphones and with the subject lying supine in a quiet room and normal skin temperature. The clicks would be presented at a repetition rate of 29.9/second, and three runs of 2000 repetitions to be recorded for each ear. The 2 most replicable runs for each ear shall be averaged and used for analysis. Absolute latencies of waves I, III, V and IPL (I-III, III-V, and I-V) shall be measured and considered outcomes