20Q: Preschool Hearing Screening is Essential for Early Identification of Childhood Hearing Loss

In the United States, universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) has been a reality for almost two decades. The emergence of UNHS can be traced back to a convergence in the 1980s of multiple distinct developments. Advances in hearing screening technology were one of the obvious requirements for UNHS. Automated auditory brainstem response (ABR) and otoacoustic emission (OAE) devices permitted relatively cost-effective hearing screening of large numbers of infants with reliance on non-audiology personnel. Subsequent clinical trials with the two new types of technology confirmed acceptable performance, including sensitivity, specificity, failure rates, and false positive rates. Research began to confirm the benefits of early intervention for permanent hearing loss. In combination, these developments plus legislative efforts contributed in the late 1990s to the all-important American Academy of Pediatrics endorsement of UNHS and establishment of benchmarks for UNHS programs (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999).

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