Identifying infants with hearing loss - United States, 1999-2007

Abstract

Congenital hearing loss affects two to three infants per 1,000 live births. Undetected hearing loss can delay speech and language development. A total of 41 states, Guam, and the District of Columbia have statutes or regulatory guidance to identify infants with hearing loss. All states and U.S. territories also have established Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs, which embody evidence-based public health policy for addressing infant hearing loss. EHDI programs help ensure that newborns and infants are screened and receive recommended follow-up through data collection and outreach to hospitals, providers, and families. To determine the status of efforts to identify newborns and infants with hearing loss, CDC analyzed EHDI surveillance data from 1999-2007. Differences in how data were reported and collected limit comparability between 1999-2004 and 2005-2007 data; however, available data indicated an increase in infants screened from 46.5% in 1999 to 97.0% in 2007. In addition, the number of infants documented with hearing loss in 2007 increased by nearly 500 infants among the same 21 states reporting data in 2001 (1,736 identified in 2001 versus 2,212 in 2007). These findings demonstrate progress toward achieving benchmarks for screening, evaluation, and intervention and document the continued need to ensure infants receive recommended services in a timely manner.