Newborn hearing screening

What it is

Newborn hearing loss is screened for with otoacoustic emissions or ABR. All newborns are screened, and the screening is done at birth. It sits on the same list as the other newborn screens: the heel-prick blood test for metabolic disorders shortly after birth, heel-prick screening for phenylketonuria in the neonatal period, and the TSH/T4 newborn screen for congenital hypothyroidism, also in the neonatal period. Premature infants are given an ophthalmologic retinal exam as well, for retinopathy of prematurity, timed by gestational age and birth weight.