Early identification of hearing impairment in children poses a major problem for clinical research and development. In the last two years we determined the hearing sensitivity of 1202 newborns, small infants and children. 52.4% of the children exhibited risk factors for hearing impairment in their medical history. The majority of children was referred to our department by pediatricians (52%), who first suspected hearing impairment, 40% by parents, 3.5% by otolaryngologists, 3% by educators, and 1.5% by general practitioners. The following examinations were performed: transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE), impedance audiometry, auropalpebralreflex, behavioral observation audiometry, and, if necessary, auditory brain stem response (ABR) with air and bone-conducted clicks as well as frequency-following responses at 500 Hz tone burst. In 378 children TEOAE were recorded on both sides, in 151 at least on one side. These results were confirmed by the other techniques. Only three children presented false negative results of TEOAE on one side. Two of these children had a middle ear effusion and a threshold of 35 dB, one had retrocochlear hearing loss. The absence of TEOAE in both ears in 155 children as well as in one ear in 16 children was detected by ABR. Seventy-seven patients showed no response on both sides, 25 on one side, although a hearing impairment more than 25 dB could not be verified by ABR. This high number of false positive results is explained in 77 cases (76%) by a middle ear dysfunction during the recording of TEOAE, when ABR was performed following adenotomy and paracentesis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)