The primary objectives of the Newborn Hearing Screen are to:
assure early identification of infants who may have a hearing loss or impairment,
Activate a system of intervention for those infants who have experienced a hearing loss or impairment, and
maintain an information management system that tracks the infants who are at-risk for loss/impairment and who are referred for diagnostic testing which is coordinated with and by the infant’s primary care provider.
A newborn’s risk
status is determined by Evolved Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) testing or
Automated Auditory Brain Stem Response (ABR) testing performed on the infant
following birth. The outcome of this testing is recorded as "pass"or "fail".
A "fail" response identifies an infant who is at potential risk for
permanent hearing loss or impairment.
When it is determined that an infant is at risk, the parents are informed
and the risk status is communicated to the infant ’s primary pediatric
provider. The infant is also referred to West Virginia’s Right From the
Start Program, where a nurse or social worker is assigned to coordinate,
with the infant’s family and physician, a confirmatory hearing test for the
baby. When the confirmatory hearing test determines that the infant has a
hearing loss or impairment, the assigned nurse/social worker will coordinate
the referral of the infant to an appropriate agency or treatment facility
and will follow-up with the infant’s family to assure that linkage has
occurred.