Hearing Screening For Newborns Important For Development

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Hearing Screening For New borns Important For Development (NAPSA)—Babies begin to af te, x ~ We these tests. The baby’s doctor develop speech and language from the time they are born. They learn should perform or order any needed medical tests to find out the cause of the hearing loss. Because a newborn baby can pass by listening and interacting with the sounds and voices around the hearing screening and still them. But when a baby is born with hearing loss, many sounds develop a hearing loss, the baby’s doctor should routinely follow the and voices are not heard, and the child’s speech and language development can be delayed. Each year in the United States, as many as 12,000 babies are born with a hearing loss. The cause of hearing loss for many babies is not known andhearing loss can go unnoticed for years. Fortunately, almost all states, communities and hospitals now offer hearing screening for all babies. The hear- ing screening is easy and painless and can identify whether more testing is needed. In fact, babies are often asleep while being screened. It takes very little time—usually only a few minutes. “It is important to identify hearing loss early,” said Alison Johnson, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. “Early identification allows fami- / lies to make decisions about their child’s care that can affect speech, language, cognitive (thinking) and social development.” All infants should be screened baby’s general health, development and well-being. “The goal for every newborn child with hearing loss is to receive medical, audiologic, educational and support services no later than 6 months of age,” said Johnson. “Receiving services at an early age will help the child develop commu- nication and languageskills that will last a lifetime.” Every state has an Early Hear- for hearing loss before 1 month of age. It is best if they are screened before leaving the hospital. If the ing Detection and Intervention hearing test and any needed med- hearing loss. If your baby has a hearing loss or if you have any concerns about your baby’s hear- baby does not pass the hearing screening, it’s very important to make an appointmentfor a full ical tests before the baby is 3 monthsof age. A professional trained to test hearing loss, such as an audiologist, or an ear, nose and throat doctor, will be able to perform (EHDI) program that works to identify infants and children with hearing loss and promotes timely follow-up testing and services for any family whose child has a ing, call (800) CDC-INFOtoll-free or visit www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/ehdi to learn more about this topic and available services.

--- PHOTOS ---

File: 20190801-012402-20190801-012359-71712.pdf.jpg

--- FILES ---

File: 20190801-012359-71712.pdf