The New York State universal newborn hearing screening demonstration project: Ages of hearing loss identification, hearing aid fitting, and enrollment in early intervention

Objective: To determine the ages of hearing loss identification, hearing ai d fitting, and enrollment in early intervention through a multi-center, sta te-wide universal newborn hearing screening project. Design: Universal newborn hearing screening was conducted at eight hospital s across New York State. All infants who did not bilaterally pass hearing s creening before discharge were recalled for outpatient retesting. Inpatient screening and outpatient rescreening were done with transient evoked otoac oustic emissions and/or auditory brain stem response testing. Diagnostic te sting was performed with age appropriate tests, auditory brain stem respons e and/or visual reinforcement audiometry, Infants diagnosed with permanent hearing loss were considered for hearing aids and early intervention. Ages of hearing loss identification, hearing aid fitting, and enrollment in earl y intervention were investigated regarding nursery type, risk status, unila teral versus bilateral hearing loss, loss type, loss severity, and state re gions. Results: The prevalence of infants diagnosed with permanent hearing loss wa s 2.0/1000 (85 of 43,311). Of the 85 infants with hearing loss, 61% were fr om neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and 67% were at risk for hearing l oss. Of the 36 infants fitted with hearing aids, 58% were from NICUs and 78 % were at risk for hearing loss. The median age at identification and enrol lment in early intervention was 3 mo. Median age at hearing aid fitting was 7.5 mo. Median ages at identification were less for infants from the well- baby nurseries (WBNs) than for the NICU infants and for infants with severe /profound than for infants with mild/moderate hearing loss, but were simila r for not-at-risk and at-risk infants. Median ages at hearing aid fitting w ere less for well babies than for NICU infants, for not-at-risk infants tha n for at-risk infants, and for infants with severe/profound hearing loss th an for infants with mild/moderate hearing loss. However, median ages at ear ly intervention enrollment were similar for nursery types, risk status, and severity of hearing loss. Conclusions: Early ages of hearing loss identification, hearing aid fitting ; and enrollment in early intervention can be achieved for infants from NIC Us and WBNs and for infants at risk and not at risk for hearing loss in a l arge multi-center universal newborn hearing screening program.