Why is newborn screening important?
One to two babies in every 1,000 are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears. It is not easy to identify that a young baby has a hearing loss. This hearing screening test will allow those babies who do have a hearing loss to be identified early. Early identification is known to be important for the development of the child. It also means that support and information can be provided to parents at an early stage.
Left undetected, hearing impairments in infants can negatively impact speech and language acquisition, academic achievement, and social and emotional development. If detected, however, these negative impacts can be diminished and even eliminated through early intervention. Because of this, the government concluded that all infants should be screened for hearing impairment, preferably prior to hospital discharge.
Researchers have found that children whose hearing loss is identified while they are still babies tend to learn language more easily and more completely than those whose hearing loss is identified later. With newborn hearing screening, many children are discovered to be deaf or hard of hearing during the important first few months of life. This may give their parents a great advantage in seeking and providing the kind of support that enables their children to learn language naturally and on time. Until recently, little information was available to help parents with this task. However, during the 1980s and 1990s, research teams watched deaf and hard of hearing babies grow, measured their achievements, and identified the kinds of interaction with parents and other adults that gave them the best start. (Spencer, 2001)
How often should a child have his or her hearing tested?
Initially, when a hearing loss is suspected, it is recommended that a child undergo testing using an Auditory Brain Response (ABR) which does not require the child to respond; rather, it measures brain activity. If the ABR reveals a hearing loss, more testing is usually done. During the process of more accurately determining the exact degree of hearing loss, the pediatrician, the otologist, and/or the audiologist may recommend more frequent testing. Children with hearing loss are not easy to test. It will take a series of tests as the child gets older and can cooperate better, to fully determine the type and extent of the hearing loss. Audiologists' opinions differ on how often a young child should be tested. Most recommend that children under three years of age be tested every six months. After that, unless a child has an ear infection or is not responding as is expected, a comprehensive evaluation once a year should be sufficient.