Auditory screening in newborns

Hearing screening is done immediately after the birth of the newborn and aims to detect as early as possible any congenital hearing deficiencies that may lead to deafness if not detected and treated in time. This screening is the first step for timely identification of what can be recovered if it is not advanced through medical means such as special hearing aids for babies or for the rest of your life. It is currently thought that this pathology is the most common disease seen in both sexes, affecting between 1 and 3 out of 1,000 newborns. Testing is done by the neonatologist during the early days of life, preferably when the baby is quiet or even when it is asleep, it takes a few minutes for both ears, it is not an invasive test, and can be repeated whenever it is necessary . The method is based on the measurement of acoustic rotations by means of a special device containing a small probe, protected by a sterile head that is inserted in turn in each newborn's ear, and the test of the acoustic rotations is switched on and information is provided shortly . In the case of newborns who do not pass the test for one or both ears, they should be tested periodically up to the age of 3 months in an audiology cabinet to confirm or not the suspicion detected by neonatal screening, which should be regarded as a preliminary indicator .

Another category of newborns to be given special attention are those who present risk factors such as: hearing loss parents, ototoxic treatments taken by mother during pregnancy, prematurity, those with (low oxygen), hyperbilirubinemia . These babies will be tested at the age of one year, even if the maternity screening was normal, but the hearing loss can be progressive, so it is not detected all the time at birth. In the 7-9 months of age, infants have a period of philatelic type automatisms, simulating \. Small children with hearing loss can not say they do not hear, but they compensate much in communication through other sensory functions such as smell, vision, tactile sensitivity and vibration. Thus, the real alarm occurs most of the time only when the normal language expected by the parents does not develop, and the question marks are more and more often and the visit to the doctor becomes the priority.

Consequently, if the parents are not very careful or well informed, the diagnosis can be established quite late, around the age of 2-3 years. The importance of health is essential in the first lifespan when the brain stores useful information for, and the period of up to 2-3 years is crucial in learning language so that a 3 year old child should already be able to fluently speak for a simple conversation . Therefore, the more hearing loss is diagnosed later, the more difficult to compensate for the loss, the more difficult and more limited. In this situation, the speech therapist, who should make great efforts to compensate for the losses and manage to form and educate a child with hearing deficiency in order to live an almost normal childhood. Considering the fact that there are also various causes, hearing loss can be isolated, which no longer involves other health problems associated with the newborn.

There are also cases where hearing loss is part of a syndrome, and is associated with other cardiac, endocrine, etc. . , which require some additional testing that sometimes leads to postponing the initiation of treatment, sometimes prioritizing other conditions. In the absence of medical interventions, infants or young children with deep bilateral deafness at birth do not manage to learn language, learning later to be able to cope with daily activities and communicate with others. Conversely, those with moderate hearing impairment may be able to increase their chances of verbal rehabilitation and their development may be normal if they also have a specialized school on auditory recovery and language learning.

In any form of hearing loss, the key to a recovery that gives the child a chance to evolve almost similarly to normal children is the diagnosis of deafness as close to the time of its installation and therapeutic intervention as soon as diagnosis. Also, parents have an important role because they should be the first to report any change in the behavior of infants or older children. In conclusion, we are talking about the most common pathology of the newborn, which can be identified from the first few days of birth through neonatal screening and can be remedied by medical devices and solutions so that the child enjoys a physiological development. Of course, in order to encourage this effort to identify, diagnose and treat children with hearing loss, a good collaboration between neonatologists, physicians, pediatricians and family doctors is needed, but the role of parents is crucial for initiating therapy and program compliance . .