[The hearing screening program for newborns with otoacoustic emission for early detection of hearing loss]

The importance of early detection of hearing loss is well known and screening programs for newborns are becoming more common throughout the world. The Hadassah hearing screening program for newborns using the Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission (TEOAE) test began in October 1999. All newborns are tested before discharge from the hospital. In case of inadequate results, the infant is scheduled for follow-up in 4 weeks in the Speech and Hearing Center, and according to results, a full audiological evaluation is performed. The high-risk population is also scheduled for follow-up. The preliminary results from 8,982 newborns show that 93.5% passed the screening in the maternity ward, 4.2% failed unilaterally, and 2.2% failed bilaterally. The follow-up rate was low in the beginning, and improved due to proceeding letters and phone calls. The follow-up results show that we were able to detect 6 infants with a hearing loss under the age of 3 months, 4 of these infants belong to the high-risk group. We believe that TEOAE hearing screening for newborns is feasible and can help to detect hard of hearing children earlier than in the past. Undoubtedly, cost effectiveness considerations will be involved in implementation decisions.