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nature publishing group
Review
Universal newborn hearing screening: methods and results, obstacles, and benets
KatarzynaE.Wroblewska-Seniuk1, PiotrDabrowski2, WitoldSzyfter2 and JanMazela1
The incidence of sensorineural hearing loss ranges from 1 to 3 per 1,000 live births in term healthy neonates, and 24 per 100 in high-risk infants, a 10-fold increase. Early identication and intervention with hearing augmentation within 6 mo yields optimal eect. If undetected and without treatment, signicant hearing impairment may negatively impact speech development and lead to disorders in psychological and mental behaviors. Hearing screening programs in newborns enable detection of hearing impairment in the rst days after birth. Programs to identify hearing decit have signicantly improved over the two decades, and their implementation continues to grow throughout the world. Initially based on risk factors, these programs identied only 5075% of infants with hearing loss. Current recommendations are to conduct universal hearing screening in all infants. Techniques used primarily include automated auditory brainstem responses and otoacoustic emissions that provide noninvasive recordings of physiologic auditory activity and are easily performed in neonates and infants. The aim of this review is to present the objectives, benets, and results of newborn hearing screening programs including the pros and cons of universal vs. selective screening. A brief history and the anticipated future development of these programs will also be discussed.
Childhood hearing impairment is the result of the overlapping factors of genetic predisposition, the intrauterine
environment, perinatal, and postnatal factors. Worldwide reporting of hearing loss nds that the prevalence of moderate and severe bilateral hearing decit (>40 dB) is 13 per 1,000 live births in well baby nursery population (1,2) and 24 in 100 infants in an intensive care population (36). The numbers given above signify that hearing impairment is one of the most common potentially disabling conditions present in infancy and one of the most frequent congenital anomalies (79).
The denition of hearing loss and hearing decit may vary in dierent classication systems but usually categories of hearing loss are mild (2140 dB HL), moderate (4170 dB HL), severe (7195 dB HL), and profound (>95 dB HL). Deafness is the term reserved for profound hearing loss (10). Thresholds are expressed in dB on the hearing level scale (dB HL).
Exposure to spoken language is vital during early...