Hearing Screening in Healthy Newborns

Results and Problems of Hearing Screening Over Two Years

Abstract

Hearing screening in healthy newborns was initiated in 1999,u sin g the ALGO 2e. The 1606 newborns were screened. A total of 1599 (99.5%) newborns passed,1579 (98%) at the first attempt and 20 (0.01%) by the third attempt. In addition,7 (0.05%) were referred at the final attempt,4 of whom were suspected of having bilateral hearing loss. All of the referred newborns underwent ABR until the age of 3 months, and the diagnosis of 6 of them was congenital hearing loss (bilateral: 4cases, unilateral: 2 cases). We concluded that ALGO 2e is helpful for the early detection of hearing loss from healthy newborns. It is necessary to establish a learning system for children with hearing impairment within a few years.