Early Intervention and Newborn Screening

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 0.5–5 of every 1,000 infants are born with congenital or prelingual deafness, often classified within the severe to profound category. In the United States, screening newborns for auditory impairment is currently a standard of care. Each state has implemented its own Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, of which 43 states have passed legislation relating to screening for hearing loss.

Two governing bodies, namely the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, have acted on specific tasks that would ultimately establish universal programs for screening newborns. These efforts have thus resulted in the following national targets that should be utilized in assessing the performance of each EHDI system in every state: All ...