The Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program: experience with statewide hearing screening (1993-1996)

Area of Science:

• Pediatric audiology
• Public health initiatives
• Neonatal screening

Background:

• Universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) is crucial for early detection of hearing loss.
• Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) are a common screening method.
• Programmatic refinement is essential for optimizing screening outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a universal hearing screen/rescreen program using TEOAEs.
• To assess key outcomes including referral rates, compliance, and age of intervention.
• To analyze data from all births in Rhode Island maternity hospitals over a four-year period.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of prospective data from 53,121 infants born between 1993 and 1996.
• Examined first-stage refer rates, rescreen compliance, diagnostic referral, identification rates, and age at amplification.
• Utilized data from a statewide universal hearing screening program.

Main Results:

• Identified 11 infants with permanent hearing loss, an impairment rate of 2 per 1000 births.
• Significantly reduced the mean age of hearing loss confirmation from 8.7 to 3.5 months.
• Decreased the mean age at amplification from 13.3 to 5.7 months.

Conclusions:

• Universal hearing screening programs benefit from time and experience for refinement.
• Data indicate steady improvements in screening completion, referral rates, and compliance.
• The program demonstrated significant success in reducing the age of identification and amplification for infants with hearing loss.