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Evidence summaries

Neonatal Hearing Screening

Neonatal hearing screening appears to have a sensitivity ranging from 80% to 100% and a specificity of well over 90% for moderate or greater permanent childhood hearing impairment. Level of evidence: "B"

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.

    References

    • Davis A, Barnford J, Wilson I, Ramkalawan T, Forshaw M, Wright S. A critical review of the role of neonatal hearing screening in the detection of congenital hearing impairment. Health Technology Assessment 1997;1:1-177. [DARE]

Primary/Secondary Keywords