Screening for hearing loss in childhood: a study of national practice

A questionnaire survey of all health districts in England and Wales was carried out at the end of 1984 to document screening programmes for identifying hearing loss in childhood. The response rate was 81.3%. All districts performed distraction testing, all but nine aiming at doing so at 7-9 months of age. All districts tested children's hearing at school, generally before 7 years of age. The number of times that children were screened both before school and at school varied considerably, from one to six times before school and one to six times at school. Few districts collected information that would allow them to make judgments about the efficiency of effectiveness of their screening programmes.