Question
What is the purpose of newborn hearing screening?
Answer
The universal newborn hearing screening aims to use objective physiological methods and subjective tests to screen the hearing of all live-born newborns. Its objectives are threefold: first, to identify newborns and young children with congenital or neonatal hearing damage during their hospital stay and within 42 days, ensuring that infants with suspected hearing problems receive audiological and medical evaluations within three months of birth. Second, for children diagnosed with hearing damage, they should receive interventions from healthcare professionals and educators before they are six months old. Lastly, for children showing signs of delayed or progressive hearing damage, regardless of their previous screening results, continuous audiological and medical testing should be conducted within three years to detect, diagnose, and intervene early.