Historical Moments in Newborn Hearing Screening

1965 - Babbidge Report (Report to the Secretary of  HEW). ¹

• Recommended the development and nationwide implementation of "universally applied procedures for early identification and evaluation of hearing impairment."

1967 - Recommendations from the National Conference on Education of the Deaf ²

• High-risk register to facilitate identification.
• Public information campaign.
• Testing of infants and children 5-12 months of age should be investigated.

1988 - Commission on Education of the Deaf ³

• Reported the average age of identification for profoundly deaf children in the US was 2 ½ years.

1988 - An advisory group of national experts convened

• Advisory group selected by the U.S. Department of Education and Bureau of Maternal and Child Health to advise the government about the feasibility of developing early identification guidelines. ⁴
• Recommended that the federal government fund demonstration projects to expand and document systematically the cost efficiency of proven techniques already in existence but infrequently used.

1988 - Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a challenge ⁵

• That by the year 2000, 90% of children with significant hearing loss be identified by 12 months of age.

1990 - Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) - Position Statement ⁶

• Recommended that high-risk infants be screened prior to their discharge from the hospital and no later than 3 months after their birth.

1990 - Healthy People 2000 ⁷

• Goal: To reduce the average age at which children with significant hearing impairment are identified to no more than 12 months by year 2000.

1993 - National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Program ⁸

• Recommended all newborns be screened for hearing loss before leaving the hospital.

1994 - The JCIH Position statement ⁹

• Recommended that "all infants with hearing loss should be identified before 3 months of age and receive intervention by 6 months of age."

1999 - The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses:¹⁰

• Universal newborn hearing screening.
• Detection of hearing loss before three months of age.
• Intervention services initiated by six months of age.
• Click here to visit the AAP's  website

2000 - The JCIH Year 2000 Position Statement: ¹¹

• Principles and Guidelines for for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Programs.

• Click here to view the JCIH Statement

2001 - Healthy People 2010: ¹²

• Goal 28-11:  Increase the proportion of newborns who are screened for hearing loss by age 1 month, have audiologic evaluation by age 3 months, and are enrolled in appropriate intervention services by age 6 months.

• Click here to view publication

Click here for a Pdf printable version

 

References

1. Babbidge. Education of the Deaf in the United States: Report of the Advisory Committee on Education of the Deaf. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995.
2. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Education of the Deaf: The Challenge and the Charge. A Report of the National Conference on Education of the Deaf. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1998.
3. Commission on Education of the Deaf. Toward Equality: Education of the Deaf. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988.
4. Advisory Group on the Early Identification of Children with Hearing Impairments. Minutes of the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health/Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Advisory Group on the Early Identification of Children with Hearing Impairments. Washington, DC: Bureau of Maternal and Child Health. 1988.
5. Mauk G.W., Behrens T.R. Historical, political, and technological context associated with early identification of hearing loss. Seminars in Hearing, 1993;14: 1-17.
6. Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. 1990 position statement. American Speech/Language Hearing Association,1991; 33(Suppl. 5): 3-6.
7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990.
8. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Statement. Early Identification of Hearing Impairment in Infants and Young Children, 1993; 11(1):1-24.
9. Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. 1994 position statement. Pediatrics, 1995; 95: 152-156.
10. American Academy of Pediatrics Newborn and Infant Hearing Loss: Detection and Intervention. Pediatrics 1999; 103(2): 527-530.
11. Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. 2000 position statement.
12. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Healthy People 2010: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2000.