Essential of audiology: screening and postscreening

Newborn hearing screening is a type of screening testfor the early detection of hearing loss. It can recognizewith good accuracy newborns affected by hearingimpairment allowing an early diagnosis and interventionand avoiding cognitive and linguistic deficits [1-6].The incidence of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss(SNHL) in Sicily is 2.35 cases per 1000 newborns; thisvalue increases to 2.95 if we consider also unilateral SNHL[2,3] and to 10 cases per 1000 births among infants at risk[7-9].A correct newborn hearing screening programme isbased on different protocols depending on the presence/absence of audiologic risk factors