Neonatal Hearing Screening: Challenges of COVID-19 Pandemic

This is a retrospective chart review of newborns referred to audiology between June and December 2020. Newborns who failed or did not have an initial newborn hearing screening (NBHS) at an academic, tertiary care medical center, either in the nursery or in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) prior to discharge, were referred for a follow-up audiology appointment. Forty-three patients were included who failed or did not receive an NBHS. Of 43 patients, 15 (34.9%) did not receive an initial hearing test due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 protocols). Of the 15, 7 (16.3% of total 43) newborns had mothers who refused COVID-19 screening, and 5/7 were lost to follow-up (11.6% of total). Another 7/15 newborns (16.3% of total) had a COVID-19-positive mother, and 1 of these 7 was lost to follow-up (2.3% of total). One of the 15 newborns (2.3% of total) had a pending maternal COVID-19 test result at discharge, and this patient was also lost to follow-up.