UNIVERSAL SCREENING FOR INFANT HEARING IMPAIRMENT - SIMPLE, BENEFICIAL, AND PRESENTLY JUSTIFIED

In a recent article, Bess and Paradise (Pediatrics 93 (1994) 330-334) rejected the recommendation of the National Institutes of Health that all infants be screened:fbr: hearing loss on being released from their birthing hospital. This article responds to their objections with dat a from the literature and operational newborn hearing screening progra ms. These data show that universal newborn hearing screening is practi cable, effective, cost-efficient, and safe, and concludes that such pr ograms should be implemented without further delay.