CHANGING PERFORMANCE OF THE HEALTH VISITOR DISTRACTION TEST WHEN TARGETED NEONATAL SCREENING IS INTRODUCED INTO A HEALTH DISTRICT

The change in the performance of the HVDT as targeted neonatal hearing screening has been introduced has been examined for the Nottingham di strict. The records for all children born in the period 1984-1993 with in the district and having a permanent hearing loss of greater than or equal to 50 dB in the better ear have been examined. The referral rou te leading to ascertainment of the hearing loss as well as the result of any screening tests were noted. The data shows an increase in the n umber referred prior to the HVDT, mainly as a result of neonatal scree n failure. At the same time there has been a reduction in the sensitiv ity of the HVDT from 78% in the first half of the decade to 38% for th e second half. There are also some indications of an increase in the c overage and the failure rate over the time. Possible reasons for these changes are discussed.