Neonatale gehoorscreening

- Approximately 1 to 2 per thousand live-born infants suffer from a serious perceptive hearing loss.

- Normal hearing from birth is essential for optimal human development (language and speech, social and emotional development, communicative skills and learning).

- The earlier the hearing loss is diagnosed the better the prognosis for the infant with a hearing impairment.

- Suitable methods are now available for neonatal hearing screening: automated measurement of auditory brain stem response and measurement of oto-acoustic emissions.

- Screening must be viewed as only the first step in a program of diagnosis, treatment and habilitation of these children.

- The ultimate goal of the implementation of neonatal hearing screening is: identification of bilateral hearing losses before the age of 3 months and start of therapy and counselling before the age of 6 months.