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Universal Newborn Hearing Screening
In conjunction with Better Hearing and Speech Month during the month
of May, the National Campaign for Hearing Health recently graded all fifty
states and the District of Columbia in a national report card rating each
State’s effectiveness in detecting the nation’s number one birth
defect--hearing loss. West Virginia performed quite well and received an
overall grade of "good."
In West Virginia, 84.4 percent of babies were tested for hearing
impairments before they left the hospital, compared to the nationwide
average of 35 percent. Without these tests at birth, most hearing loss
would not be detected until approximately 30 months of age. These tests
help to ensure that each of these children would have full advantage of
that critical period of developing cognitive skills. If hearing loss is
left undetected after six months, a child is at risk of serious delays in
speech and language development.
In a recent University of Colorado study of 150 children with hearing
loss, those children identified with hearing loss by six months of age who
received hearing aids were using language at a normal level by age three.
Meanwhile, those children who went undetected for hearing loss until six
months of age, as well as those who did not receive treatment for hearing
loss, tested below normal for language development by age three.
In an effort to raise the nationwide average, the National Campaign
for Hearing Health was launched in March 1999 by the Deafness Research
Foundation. This foundation is America’s largest voluntary health
organization devoted to hearing loss and hearing health research and
education. The campaign is a five year initiative designed to promote
hearing loss awareness, advocacy, education, and legislation in an effort
to insure that every newborn child is tested for hearing loss.
H.R. 1193, a bill that establishes programs regarding early detection,
diagnosis, and interventions for newborns and infants with hearing loss,
was enacted into law with my strong support last year as part of the FY 00
Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Bill. Locally, West Virginia passed
legislation in 1998 that can be greatly credited for the State’s
impressive percentage. In addition, a Statewide system for universal
newborn hearing screenings is being developed.
Across the country, 12,000 infants, approximately 32 every day, are
born with some degree of hearing loss each year and nearly 4,000 are
profoundly deaf. While West Virginia has made great progress since 1998,
we need to keep working to make sure every baby leaving our hospitals has
been tested for hearing impairments. For more information about universal
newborn hearing screenings, I encourage you to visit the National
Campaign for Hearing Health web site
May 22, 2000 |
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