The Pros And Cons Of Universal Hearing Screening

Twenty-six percent of infants ears demonstrated hearing loss during the first year of life, and 78% of children’s ears demonstrated hearing loss during the study period. Of the children’s ears with hearing loss, 100% had a conductive component and 26% had an additional sensorineural component (mixed hearing loss…Common temporal bone findings included thickening and sclerosis of the

The goal is screening a 3-5 year old is to identify any factors that may impact the child’s communication, developmental health, or future academic performance (ASHA). At this age, screenings may be mandated by a school, recommended by a doctor, or simply requested from a family. For screenings, it is common to do an otoscope exam, pure tone test, and tympanogram reading. The otoscope is used to make sure there are no foreign bodies or cerumen blocking the ear canal (Oxford Medical). This would create an inaccurate screening. A pure tone test will identify the faintest tone a person can hear at select frequencies. A way to screen this age group is with a strategy called conditioned play audiometry during a pure tone test. With this, the child is asked to perform an activity every time a tone is heard. The

Selected papers that presented A or B strengths of evidence addressing the comparison between HA or CI in the pediatric population with prelingual deafness.

Since hearing is either blocked or nonexistent, steps for types of hearing aids are available. There is Atresia repair which is a surgical procedure done as early as three years old on some candidates to reopen the canal to the inner ear. Some are ideal candidates while others are to wait and look at other hearing aids. Soft band bone conducting hearing aids that can conduct sound through the skull and deliver some sound to the inner ear through a head band can be introduced to a child as a newborn. The idea to have a child wear a hearing aid as early as six months is to introduce sound and language early. Cochlear implantation or BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Appliance) can be done at five years old. There is also the VORP(Vibrating Ossicular Prosthesis), or a Vibrant Soundbridge, which is a device that helps create the middle ear. However, implantation may not be needed if a functioning inner ear is detected. If an inner ear is detected in a MRI and the child shows signs of having a chance to regain hearing, surgery is

The purpose of this paper is to revisit previous literature on universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS), review current practices of UNHS, and evaluate the factors relating to UNHS. The importance of identifying hearing loss before 3 months, and receiving intervention by 6 months of age relates to the children’s speech, language, academic, and social/emotional development. Early diagnosis allows a longer period of time for families to obtain information and receive support that may be needed (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2003). The ultimate goal of UNHS is to detect hearing loss early in order to treat hearing loss sooner, potentially preventing a delay in children’s overall development (NIH, 1993).

Early intervention is crucial in a deaf child’s life. During the early years of a child’s life,

Children with ANSD receive an evaluation from a pediatric Audiologist. They should also consider receiving an evaluation from a genetic counselor to see if there is a genetic condition behind the cause of their ANSD. The pediatric Audiologist performs a comprehensive examination. During the evaluation the Audiologist determines behavioral hearing thresholds/responses. This is because the ABR is not specific enough to determine an individual’s hearing thresholds. It is a good estimation but not specific enough. Such ways the pediatric Audiologist will determine a child’s hearing thresholds depend on the age of the child. For children birth up to five months the Audiologist might perform behavioral observation audiometry (BOA). For ages of at

Without hearing screenings average diagnosis of permanent hearing loss is greater than 2 years old. Late diagnosis of hearing loss has been one of the contributing factors of reduced language skills in children (Durieux-Smith, Fitzpatrick, & Whittingham, 2008). Since the early 1980s, the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing has published recommendations and multiple position statements which support the use of newborn hearing screenings, to decrease the age of diagnosis of children with permanent hearing loss. By 2000, there was a federal law to support universal newborn hearing screenings (UNHS). The law also promoted early intervention for children with hearing loss, in hopes to improve speech/language abilities for children with hearing loss

A child’s speech and language development are highly effective from a young age of 5 and under (Dobie & Van Hemel, 2004). With early intervention, it is seen to be the most effective with children who receive it at a young age. There is not really any one type of intervention or services for people and families of the hearing impaired. However, it is reported that the earlies a deaf person receives treatment and services, the more potential they have to improve their speech, language, social development, and educational achievement. “Research strongly indicates that children with a hearing loss must receive early intervention as soon as possible if they are to learn the language skills necessary for reading and other academic subjects” (Hardman, Drew, & Egan,

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, “About 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born with a detectable level of hearing loss in one or both ears.” Cochlear Implants are mechanical devices that are highly promoted by the hearing society to “cure” deafness. Despite the fact Cochlear Implants can be effective, the risk of serious physical and emotional harm to a patient outweighs the chances of its success.

Taylor and Emanuel (2013) conducted retrospective and prospective studies to assess the efficacy and offer suggestions to strengthen college hearing screening programs. Researchers assessed low return rates, addressed high ambient noise levels in therapy rooms, and considered the effects on results when excluding 6000 Hz. Retrospective records from 1999 to 2011 were analyzed at a university. A small percentage of students were referred for follow-up testing after failing their screening, yet only a third of the students returned for diagnostic testing. Students with hearing loss were not accurately identified due to the therapy rooms being poorly treated, resulting in unreliable findings. The prospective study included a smaller number of students who took part in a required screening and agreed to participate in a

If they have a hearing loss is it very important to begin planning for your child’s educational future as soon as possible. Early Intervention services are designed to work with children early so that they can enter into preschool and elementary school ready to succeed. The Alexander Graham website says “there are three different goals that are important to any plan: a service plan developed as early as possible after the child’s diagnosis, heavy involvement by families in the development and execution of the agreed upon plan, and a highly structured plan that provides clear and measureable

Iliadou et al. (2015) analyzed three cases of Pediatric Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) to determine if a hearing loss or auditory processing deficit played a part in the delayed progress that was being made in speech therapy. Each child completed an otoscopy, pure-tone air conduction evaluation, tympanometry, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), auditory brainstem responses (ABR), and a variety of word recognition assessments (e.g. dichotic listening, sequencing, other central auditory processing disorder assessments). Case one was an 8-year-old boy who had a diagnosis of SSD and presented little to no progress in therapy (Iliadou et al., 2015). The mother of the child had no concerns regarding her child’s hearing, although several scenarios began

The National Institutes of Health Consensus Statement (NIH, 1993) previously discussed the importance of implementing the two-stage, evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAE) and auditory brainstem response (ABR) universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) protocol. Bess and Paradise (1994) stated their objections towards the NIH study by presenting limitations, which included the practicability, effectiveness, cost, and harm-benefit ratio. Although there was an agreement between NIH and Bess and Paradise that early identification is important, Bess and Paradise are cautious in supporting NIH launching the UNHS protocol. The first notable limitation on the practicability of the NIH study takes into account hospital nurseries discharging within 24

Recently in the United States, there has been a drive at both the state and national level to provide universal screening for newborns to detect hearing loss. Although the idea of a universal screening in newborns is a new phenomenon, research has examined the impact of early intervention and screening for children with hearing loss. “Most professionals in the field feel strongly that early identification of hearing loss and early implementation of intervention enhances the child’s social, communicative, and academic development” (Calderon, 1998, p. 54). With that, the two studies used participants in the same early intervention program and mainly focused on the importance of the age of enrollment. Furthermore, the age of enrollment