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Published on: August 17, 2022
Concurrent hearing and genetic screening in a general newborn population
Ling Guo1, Jiale Xiang2, Lei Sun1
1Jining Maternal and Child Health Care Service Center, Jining, 272000, China.
Insights
Concurrent genetic screening significantly enhances newborn hearing screening, identifying infants with hereditary hearing loss and ototoxicity risks missed by standard tests. This approach improves early detection and informs personalized clinical management for affected families.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Audiology
- Neonatal Care
Background:
- Newborn hearing screening has limitations in detecting delayed-onset hearing loss and drug-induced ototoxicity.
- Some severe to profound hearing loss cases are missed by current newborn screening protocols.
- Aminoglycoside-antibiotic-induced ototoxicity poses a risk undetectable by standard hearing tests.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of combining hearing and genetic screening in newborns.
- To demonstrate the practical benefits of concurrent screening in the general population.
- To identify infants at risk for hereditary hearing loss and ototoxicity.
Main Methods:
- Conducted concurrent hearing and genetic screening for newborns between September 1, 2015, and January 31, 2018.
- Analyzed data from 239,636 eligible infants with a median age of 19 months.
- Identified prelingual hearing loss, positive/inconclusive genotypes, and genetic risks for ototoxicity.
Main Results:
- Identified 548 infants (0.23%) with prelingual hearing loss.
- Genetic screening detected 14 patients with positive hearing loss genotypes and 27 with inconclusive genotypes who passed hearing screens.
- Identified 570 newborns (0.23%) and their families at risk for ototoxicity, missed by hearing screens.
Conclusions:
- Genetic screening complements newborn hearing screening by enhancing detection of hereditary hearing loss and ototoxicity risks.
- Enables genotype-based clinical management for infants and families identified with genetic predispositions.
- Suggests further validation in diverse populations and cost-effectiveness analyses are needed.
Abstract:
Newborn hearing screening is not designed to detect delayed-onset prelingual hearing loss or aminoglycoside-antibiotic-induced ototoxicity. Cases with severe to profound hearing loss have been reported to have been missed by newborn hearing screens. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of concurrent hearing and genetic screening in the general population and demonstrate its benefits in practice. Enrolled newborns received concurrent hearing and genetic screens between September 1, 2015 and January 31, 2018. Of the 239,636 eligible infants (median age, 19 months), 548 (0.23%) had prelingual hearing loss. Genetic screening identified 14 hearing loss patients with positive genotypes and 27 patients with inconclusive genotypes who had passed the hearing screens. In addition, the genetic screen identified 0.23% (570/239,636) of the newborns and their family members as at-risk for ototoxicity, which is undetectable by hearing screens. In conclusion, genetic screening complements newborn hearing screening by improving the detection of infants at risk of hereditary hearing loss and ototoxicity, and by informing genotype-based clinical management for affected infants and their family members. Our findings suggest that the practice should be further validated in other populations and rigorous cost-effectiveness analyses are warranted.
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