14 DAY TRIAL // A new study carried out by the Leiden University Medical Center, in Leiden, the Netherlands, concluded that kids suffering from permanent hearing impairment had a better life quality, and were generally developed better at ages 3 to 5 years, if they underwent hearing screening when newborns.
The research was led by Anna M. H. Korver, MD, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Center, whose team looked at the different developmental outcomes between kids who had been screened for hearing impairment when newborns, and those who underwent distraction hearing screening (behavior observation).
In the Netherlands, between 2002 and 2006, 65 regions replaced distraction hearing screening with newborn hearing screening.
The assessment method depended on availability at the place and date of birth and did not consider the individual developmental prognoses.
In this experiment, all children who were born in the Netherlands between 2003 and 2005 were included and at the age of 3 to 5 years, all the kids suffering from permanent childhood hearing impairment were identified.
For the study whose evaluation ended in December 2009, 335,560 children were born in a region offering newborn hearing screening and 234,826 in one where distraction hearing screening was available.
At follow-up, 263 children (0.78 per 1,000) from the first region and 171 (0.73 per 1,000) from the distraction hearing screening region, developed permanent childhood hearing impairment.
69.4% of children took part at the analysis of general performance measures, which compared the degree of hearing impairment and type of education of the two groups (183 – newborn hearing screening, 118 – distraction hearing screening).
At the analysis of extensive developmental outcomes participated 80 children born in newborn hearing screening regions and 70 in distraction hearing screening regions.
The results showed that kids from newborn hearing screening regions had higher scores in developmental outcome compared with the other children and this included the measurements of social development, gross motor development and quality of life.
Permanent childhood hearing impairment is a relatively common condition, which is very serious, and auditory input is absolutely necessary for development and social functioning.
Being aware of a child's hearing ability early on, gives the opportunity of using early amplification when necessary.
The researchers say that “until some years ago, distraction hearing screening (behavioral testing) was used for hearing screening around the age of 9 months.
“Newborn hearing screening (within 2 weeks of birth) was introduced in many developed countries because it was thought that the earlier permanent childhood hearing impairment was diagnosed, the less developmentally disadvantaged children would become.
“However, to date no strong evidence exists for universal implementation of newborn hearing screening,” the authors write, “the results of [this] study [only] add evidence to the presumed importance and effectiveness of the implementation of universal newborn hearing screening programs.”
The study was published in the October 20 issue of JAMA.