Undiagnosed hearing loss in a child can have serious effects on many developmental areas, including language, social interactions, emotions, cognitive ability, academic performance and vocational skills, any combination of which can have negative impacts on the quality of life. The serious impacts of a late diagnosis, combined with the high incidence (estimated at 1 - 3 per 1000 live births, and as high as 4% for neonatal intensive care unit patients) have been the driving forces behind screening programs designed to identify infants with hearing loss as early as possible. Early identification allows these patients and their families to access needed resources to help them develop.
Newborn hearing testing is done at the bedside using transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions, automated auditory brainstem responses or a combination of both techniques. Hearing screening programs have found the initial testing to cost between $10.20 and $23.37 per baby, depending on the technology used.[23] As these are screening tests only, false positive results will occur. A review of hearing screening programs found varied initial referral rates (screen positive results) from 0.6% to 16.7%. The highest overall incidence of hearing loss detection was 0.517%. A significant proportion of screen positive infants were lost to follow-up, before a diagnosis could be confirmed or ruled out in all screening programs.
