Families – questions on newborn hearing screening & diagnostic evaluations

What is newborn hearing screening?
Newborn hearing screening is a simple way to find out if your baby may have a hearing loss and need testing. It takes only a few minutes and is done while your baby is sleeping.

Why does my baby need to have a hearing screening?
About 1 to 3 babies of every 1,000 babies are born with a permanent hearing loss. Because babies begin to learn speech and language during the first few months of life, it is very important that they have good hearing during this critical period of development.

How is my baby's hearing screened in the hospital or birth center?
There are two ways to screen a baby's hearing. Both ways are comfortable, take only a few minutes and are done while your baby is sleeping.
1) Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) uses a special computer to measure how well your baby's hearing nerve responds to sounds that are sent to your baby's ears through earphones or ear tips.
2) Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) uses a special microphone and computer to measure the response of your baby's ear to soft sounds that are sent through earphones or ear tips.

What does it mean if my baby passes the newborn hearing screening?
If your baby passes the newborn hearing screening, you do not need more testing at this time. Just remember your baby's hearing does not have to be perfect to pass.

A small number of babies who pass the newborn hearing screening can lose their hearing—suddenly or gradually—before one year of age or older. If you have a family history of permanent childhood hearing loss, your baby should be tested every year.

Some babies may develop hearing loss later as a child. Regular ear infections, meningitis, head injury or other medical conditions are some of the causes of hearing loss in children. Children with a history of these conditions should receive hearing tests.

In addition, if you, a member of your family, caregiver or a professional have a concern about your child's ability to communicate, talk to your child's doctor about having your child's hearing tested as soon as possible. See the speech and language milestones below to help determine if you should be concerned about your child's hearing.

What do I do if my baby did not have a newborn hearing screening?
Your hospital - will make every effort to complete the hearing screening before your baby goes home. If your baby did not have a newborn hearing screening, call your hospital to make an appointment. A nurse may call you to remind you that it is important to have the hearing
screening.

If you deliver at a birth center, your baby should receive a newborn hearing screening at one of the follow-up appointments. Call the birth center to make an appointment if your baby did not have a newborn hearing screening at one of the follow-up appointments.

What does it mean if my baby did not pass the newborn hearing screening?
There may be several reasons why your baby did not pass the hearing screening:

• Your baby was too active or did not sleep during the hearing screening.
• The room was too noisy when your baby had his/her hearing screening to get good screening results.
• Your baby has a hearing loss—either temporary or permanent.

Whatever the reason may be, if your baby did not pass the newborn hearing screening, he or she needs to have further testing. It is important to find out if your baby has a hearing loss as soon as possible so that your baby can receive assistance learning speech and language beginning the first few months of life.

What should I do if my baby did not pass the newborn hearing screening??
Your baby needs to have a full diagnostic audiologic evaluation to determine if your baby has a hearing loss and to determine the type and degree of hearing loss. The diagnostic audiologic evaluation should take place before your baby is 3 months old. Your doctor should refer your baby to a pediatric audiologist for this evaluation.

Why does a pediatric audiologist need to test my baby's hearing?
There are safe, accurate and effective ways to determine how well a child hears at any age. A pediatric audiologist is specially trained and has the proper equipment to provide developmentally appropriate test techniques for infants and children to determine the type and degree of hearing loss.

How do I know if my baby is developing speech and language?
Here is a chart that shows typical ways to a baby demonstrates speech and language appropriate for his/her age. If you have any concerns at all about your baby's speech and language development or if you think your baby does not hear well, be sure to talk to your baby's doctor right away. Click HERE for chart.

Families – questions once a child is diagnosed hearing loss

What do I need to do for my child now that I know he/she has a hearing loss?
Parents have many questions when they first learn that their child have hearing loss. Talk to your child's audiologist, your child's doctor and parents who have children with hearing loss. You can learn more from information on the internet. Two great websites to get started are:
www.babyhearing.org and http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/hearingloss/index.html

Where do I find parent support?
The Hands & Voices Guide By Your Side Program of PA (GBYS) is a support program for families of infants and toddlers who are diagnosed with a hearing loss. GBYS gives families who recently learned of their child's hearing loss an opportunity to talk to and meet face-to-face with a Parent Guide, a trained and experienced parent of a child with hearing loss. The program is available to all Pennsylvania families with children up to age 3 at no cost.

You can request a GBYS Parent Guide by doing one of the following:
1) Complete the Guide By Your Side referral form: Click HERE.
2) Phone Anne Gaspich, GBYS program coordinator, at 1-800-360-7282, ext. 3908
3) E-mail: agaspich@pattan.net
Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania provides support to families of children with special health care needs, including children with hearing loss, by linking them to a parent who has a child with the same special health care need. Contact them by calling 1-888-727-2706.

What are the types of hearing loss?
There are 4 types of hearing loss:
1) conductive hearing loss
2) sensorineural hearing loss
3) mixed hearing loss and
4) Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder.
For information on these types of hearing loss in easy to understand, non-technical terms, Click HERE.

Where can I find further information?
Be sure to check the Resource Center on the Families page of this website to find more information. Also, talk to your child's health care professionals and early intervention provider, as well as other parents who have children with hearing loss.