Deaf Teens Could Benefit From Early Detection

A team of researchers from the University of Southampton are currently investigating whether detecting deafness in newborn babies would help future teenagers achieve better language skills.

In the 1990s, the same team have been studying the development of a group of children whose deafness was detected at birth, within a pilot screening program carried out in Southampton and London.

The children, who are now between 13 and 18 years old, will be screened, and their level of development will be assessed and compared to that of deaf adolescents who have not been screen as newborn babies.

Their development will also be compared to that of hearing teens from the same geographical areas.

The researchers will assess reading and language skills, school attainment, quality of life, behavior, interpersonal relationship functioning, social understanding and views about their deafness and their education.

After the team published its initial study in 1998, a national, universal newborn screening program for deafness was introduced in the NHS, and this new form of screening is currently in place in every area in the United Kingdom.

“We tested the effect of screening all newborn babies for hearing problems at birth and found that it was an effective way of picking up hearing impairment early in the first year after birth,” explains Colin Kennedy, professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University, a consultant pediatric neurologist at Southampton General Hospital and leader of the study.

“We also discovered that children exposed to this type of newborn screening had, on average, better language and reading abilities at age 8 years than those not exposed to newborn screening.

“As the group are now teenagers, we are going back to review their progress.

“This work suggests that screening all babies for hearing impairment at birth, so that families can have the information they need to support their baby’s development, does lead to benefits of practical importance at primary school, but only now can we find out what benefit this leads to in the teenage years.”

This research is funded by the Wellcome Trust.