title: The organisation of universal newborn hearing screening in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A universal newborn hearing screening programme based on the voluntary participation of maternity hospitals has been implemented in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation since November 2006. This paper presents the results of this programme and its evolution since its implementation (2007-2011).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-step screening by automated otoacoustic emissions is performed on newborns without risk factors for hearing loss and, if abnormal responses or risk factor(s) are found, auditory brainstem response audiometry is performed. Descriptive analyses of the eligible population, coverage rates and prevalence of hearing loss were presented by year of birth (2007-2011) and globally.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over five years, the first screening test coverage rate increased to almost 95%, 2.4% of the newborns without risk factors were referred for auditory brainstem response audiometry and 42.6% of the newborns referred were lost to followup. Of the newborns with risk factor(s) for hearing loss, 6.3% were not tested, 87.4% had normal bilateral hearing and 3.7% were lost to follow-up. Between 2007 and 2011, hearing impairment was reported in 3.18 per thousand newborns eligible for the programme, whatever the kind of hearing loss.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Like many other countries and areas, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has implemented a universal newborn hearing screening programme. The results of this programme evolved favourably during the period 2007-2011, even if some efforts had to be made to improve the follow-up of the referred newborns and data quality.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Epidémiologie Périnatale (CEpiP), Brussels, Belgium. benevos@ulb.ac.be
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vos
authors.affiliation: Université libre de Bruxelles, School of Public Health, Research Center Health Policy and Systems - International Health, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lagasse
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Epidémiologie Périnatale (CEpiP), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levêque
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006771:Hospitals, Maternity; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012307:Risk Factors