Universal newborn screening: a dream realized or a nightmare in the making?
There is a very strong movement to develop universal newborn hearing screening. This effort is the end product of a long international research effort to determine the most effective means to screen newborns. Now that OAE and ABR together offer a superior mechanism to achieve universal screening, problems related to middle ear effusion, non-high-risk children and adequate resources for all aspects of identification, diagnosis and treatment have come to the fore. Further, what to do in the developing world is also a major problem as audiology embarks on this exciting new frontier. This paper discusses some of the issues, raises some concerns and offers a few small solutions.
Mencher
G T
GT
Dalhousie University School of Human Communication Disorders, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Devoe
S J
SJ
D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology