Screening for Newborn Hearing

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Release Date: October 2001

Summary of Recommendations / Supporting Documents

Summary of Recommendations

• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes the evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against routine screening of newborns for hearing loss during the postpartum hospitalization.

  Rating: I Recommendation.

  Rationale: The USPSTF found good evidence that newborn hearing screening leads to earlier identification and treatment of infants with hearing loss. However, evidence to determine whether earlier treatment resulting from screening leads to clinically important improvement in speech and language skills at age 3 years or beyond is inconclusive because of the design limitations in existing studies.

  Although earlier identification and intervention may improve the quality of life for the infant and family during the first year of life, and prevent regret by the family over delayed diagnosis of hearing loss, the USPSTF found few data addressing these benefits. The USPSTF could not determine from existing studies whether these potential benefits outweigh the potential harms of false-positive tests that many low-risk infants would experience following universal screening in both high- and low-risk groups.

  The USPSTF found good evidence that the prevalence of hearing loss in infants in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and those with other specific risk factors (go to Clinical Considerations) is 10 to 20 times higher than the prevalence of hearing loss in the general population of newborns. Both the yield of screening and the proportion of true positive results will be substantially higher when screening is targeted at these high-risk infants, but selective screening programs typically do not identify all infants with risk factors. Evidence that early identification and intervention for hearing loss improves speech, language, or auditory outcomes in high-risk populations is also limited.

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Supporting Documents

Screening for Newborn Hearing, October 2001
Recommendations and Rationale (PDF File, 72 KB; PDF Help)
Summary of the Evidence (PDF File, 132 KB; PDF Help)
Systematic Evidence Review (PDF Files Download)

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Current as of October 2001

Internet Citation:

Screening for Newborn Hearing, Topic Page. October 2001. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspsnbhr.htm