Ten Years of Newborn Hearing Screening in North Carolina

Published: 2010-05-13

In the past 10 years, more than one million infants born in North Carolina have been screened for hearing loss before they left the hospital.  This is the result of a law passed in 2000 requiring all medical facilities that provide birthing or inpatient neonatal services to provide hearing screening as part of their routine care for infants.

Screening newborns for hearing loss is now the standard of care within all hospitals in the United States, and North Carolina is no exception. Modern technology has created procedures that are painless, simple, fast and easy, especially when a baby is sleeping.  Currently, the 87 birthing facilities in the state screen infants for hearing loss prior to the child going home, resulting in a screening rate of more than 98% of all babies born in the state.

Everyday 33 babies (about 12,000 each year) are born in the U.S. with permanent hearing loss.  In 2008, 210 babies born in North Carolina were identified with hearing loss through the Newborn Hearing Screening program, which is administered by individual hospitals and overseen by the Children and Youth Branch in the Division of Public Health.  Federal funding for the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program is provided by grants from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Hearing loss is the most frequently occurring congenital condition, but may also be acquired later during childhood. When left undetected, hearing loss 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.

For most babies, the initial screen in the hospital is the end of the process. However, some babies may need further follow-up. If so, the parents are asked to bring the baby back to the hospital or to a doctor’s office for further testing. Some babies will require a diagnostic evaluation. Most babies younger than three months old will sleep through the process. The longer a parent waits to schedule the evaluation, the more likely their infant will need to be sedated for this procedure.

National Goals for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention include the following:

Ø       That infants complete screening by one month of age;

Ø       That infants needing a diagnostic test have it by three months of age; and

Ø       That infants with hearing loss begin intervention by six months of age.

Research supports that when these goals are met, children with hearing loss have positive speech, language, and listening outcomes regardless of the communication method of the child (i.e. speech, sign language, etc.).

Even when a child passes the newborn hearing screening, it is important for parents to be aware of normal speech and hearing development. Progressive and late-onset

hearing losses occur as frequently as congenital hearing loss.  Any hearing loss needs to be identified and receive intervention as soon as possible in order to maximize a child’s development.  Parents should talk to their doctor or primary care provider about any concerns they have about their child’s hearing or speech and language development.

For more information, contact Kathleen Watts, Program Manager for the NC Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program at 919-707-5632 or go to the Program website, www.ncnewbornhearing.org.