Current status of universal newborn hearing screening

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Abstract
Universal newborn hearing screening is rapidly becoming standard of care throughout the world. Within the past year, clinical and research reports on the effectiveness, costs, and potential risks of universal newborn hearing screening have added to the large and continuously growing body of literature on early hearing detection and intervention. Reports from both statewide and hospital-specific screening programs demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of universal newborn hearing screening for improving early identification of infants with hearing loss. Statistical modeling and evaluation of costs of universal newborn hearing screening show the effects of technology and false-positive rates on overall program costs. Important new histopathologic assessment of temporal bones from infants who received care in the neonatal ICU reveals unexpected findings about the role of hair cell loss in congenital hearing loss. Most recently, evidence that auditory deprivation in infancy alters auditory central nervous system maturation has been reported.