[Early diagnosis of deafness and severe hearing loss]

Universal neonatal hearing screening can now be done by practical application of hearing physiology and automated techniques for registration of otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem responses.

This review gives the theoretical and practical background for implementation of neonatal hearing screening in Norway.

With the diagnostic methods used up to now, age at diagnosis of permanent hearing loss and start of habilitation has not been lowered during the last decades. Based on early diagnosis, habilitation of permanent hearing impairment can now be improved to an earlier unknown extent. The importance of continued efforts for diagnosis of postnatal hearing loss through infancy and adolescence is stressed. Disapproval of neonatal hearing screening based on methodological problems and possible parental concern is largely non-existent.

The benefits of early diagnosis of hearing loss outweigh the costs and efforts invested in screening.