A systematic review on neonatal hearing screening 1 including 27 studies with a total of 143,825 subjects was abstracted in DARE. The tests included Universal Natal Screening (UNS) and Health Visitor Distraction Tests (HVDT). Eighteen studies (n=52,260) were peer-reviewed publications, 8 were pre-prints (n=85,419). All methods of neonatal hearing screens show high screen specificity, generally well above 90%. Evidence on screen sensitivity for moderate and greater cases of congenital permanent childhood hearing impairment is less available, but estimates range from 80% to 100%, except for the portable auditory response cradle, where sensitivity may fall to unacceptable levels. UNS has a lower marginal cost than the HVDT, and a much lower cost per child detected.
Comment: The quality of evidence is upgraded by consistent findings and big sample size.
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