Newborn Testing

1) Everyday in the United States, approximately 33 babies (1 to 3 infants per 1,000) are born with significant hearing loss.

2) Hearing loss is the most common congenital disorder in newborns; 20 times more prevalent than phenlyketonuria (PKU), a condition for which all newborns are currently screened.

3) The average age that children with hearing loss are identified in the U.S. is 12 to 25 months of age. When hearing loss is detected late, critical time for stimulating the auditory pathways to hearing centers of the brain is lost. Speech and language development is delayed, affecting social and emotional growth and academic achievement.

4) Less than 20% of the babies born in the U.S. are born in hospitals with universal newborn hearing screening programs.

5) It is estimated that another 3 infants per 1,000 are born with moderate hearing loss (a total of 6 infants per 1,000, or over 60 babies born a day) could be identified with wide-use of universal newborn screening and intervention programs.