Newborn Hearing Screening — A Silent Revolution

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 354; no. 20; pp. 2151 - 2164
• Main Authors: Morton, Cynthia C, Nance, Walter E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 18.05.2006
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Children & youth; Ear - anatomy & histology; Ears & hearing; Emissions; General aspects; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss - diagnosis; Hearing Loss - etiology; Hearing Loss - genetics; Hearing Tests; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Medical sciences; Neonatal Screening; Newborn babies; Human; Medicine; Hearing; Newborn; Medical screening
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra050700

The implementation of universal screening programs to detect hearing defects in newborns has dramatically increased the identification of hearing loss in infants. Recent advances in understanding the nature and causes of prelingual hearing loss, combined with advances in technology, suggest that further improvement in these programs can readily be achieved. Recent advances in understanding the nature and causes of prelingual hearing loss, combined with advances in technology, suggest that further improvement in screening programs can readily be achieved. Hearing loss is an etiologically heterogeneous trait with many known genetic and environmental causes. 1 Historically, some environmental causes of hearing loss, such as rubella embryopathy, have been epidemic in nature, establishing that the incidence of congenital deafness can vary widely at various times and among populations. Other important environmental causes of hearing loss include prematurity, prenatal and postnatal infections, head trauma, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and pharmacologic ototoxicity. Genetic causes account for at least 50 to 60 percent of childhood hearing loss in developed countries and can be classified according to the pattern of inheritance, the presence (syndromic) or absence (nonsyndromic) of . . .