Six year effectiveness of a population based two tier infant hearing screening programme

Abstract

Aims: To determine whether a two tier universal infant hearing screening programme (population based risk factor ascertainment and universal distraction testing) lowered median age of diagnosis of bilateral congenital hearing impairment (CHI) >40 dB HL in Victoria, Australia. Methods: Comparison of whole population birth cohorts pre and post introduction of the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program (VIHSP). All babies surviving the neonatal period born in Victoria in 1989 (pre-VIHSP) and 1993 (post-VIHSP) were studied. (1) Pre-1992: distraction test at 7-9 months. (2) Post-1992: infants with risk factors for CHI referred for auditory brain stem evoked response (ABR) assessment; all othe..