New-born Hearing Screening

Newborn screening and diagnosis helps ensure all babies who are deaf or hard of hearing are identified as soon as possible. Then, they can receive early intervention services that can make a big difference in their communication and language development.

Babies may respond to noise by startling or turning their heads toward the sound, for example. But this doesn’t necessarily mean they can hear all the sounds around them and everything we say. Babies who are deaf or hard of hearing may hear some sounds but still not hear enough to understand spoken language.

The goal is for all babies to have a newborn hearing screening by one month of age, ideally before they go home from the hospital; identified by 3 months of age and enrolled in early intervention or treatment, if identified as deaf or hard of hearing, by the age of 6 months.