Newborn hearing screening in the UK

Abstract

The newborn hearing screening programme (NHSP) exists to identify permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) in babies born in the UK. Early identification of hearing loss facilitates the provision of hearing aids or a prompt referral for cochlear implantation to ensure children optimise speech, language and communication skills, with the hope that this translates to the best possible educational, mental health, social and quality of life outcomes. Diagnosis of hearing impairment allows aetiological investigations to be offered to look for a potential cause of the PCHI, and given the recent advances in genomic testing, this can facilitate testing for additional family members and future children if a genetic cause is identified. In this article, the authors describe the structure of the NHSP and illustrate referral pathways into the programme from primary care for the few babies that may have been missed or fallen outside the remit of the programme.