The effectiveness of the promotion of newborn hearing screening in Taiwan

Chih-Ming Huang; I-Ying Yang; Ying-Chuan Julie Ma; Grace Su-Feng Lin; Cheng-Chien Yang; Hsen-Tien Tsai; Hung-Ching Lin

doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.10.005

The effectiveness of the promotion of newborn hearing screening in Taiwan

Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2014 Jan;78(1):14-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.10.005. Epub 2013 Oct 19.

Authors

Chih-Ming Huang¹, I-Ying Yang², Ying-Chuan Julie Ma³, Grace Su-Feng Lin³, Cheng-Chien Yang⁴, Hsen-Tien Tsai⁵, Hung-Ching Lin⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taitung, Taiwan.
² Graduate Institute of Audiology and Speech Therapy, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan; Department of Otolaryngology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taiwan.
³ Children's Hearing Foundation, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Otolaryngology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: hclin59@ms29.hinet.net.

PMID: 24300945
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.10.005

Abstract

Objective: Hearing is a critical ability for the development of a child's speech and language. Many studies in different countries have shown the universal newborn hearing screening and early intervention has greatly reduced the negative impact caused by congenital hearing loss. The first universal newborn hearing screening program in Taiwan took place in MacKay Memorial Hospital in 1998 and was subsequently endorsed by the government. The incidence of bilateral congenital hearing impairment in Taiwan is approximately 2.6 per 1000 live birth. The aim of this paper is to analyze the age of diagnosis, hearing aid fitting, and intervention of congenitally hearing impaired children with and without hearing screening after public awareness and government endorsement of newborn hearing screening.

Materials and methods: There were 263 hearing impaired children participated in this study, receiving their auditory habilitation therapy at Children's Hearing Foundation from 2006 to 2010. 114 of those children went through newborn hearing screening and 149 without it. The age of diagnosis, hearing aid fitting, and auditory intervention were compared between these two groups. The age of diagnosis and intervention of congenitally hearing impaired children among different years were analyzed too.

Results: The average age of diagnosis was 8.7 months, the age of hearing aid fitting was 12.4 months and age of auditory intervention was 18.8 months for the group of hearing impaired children with newborn hearing screening. For hearing impaired children without newborn screening, their average age of diagnosis was 27.5 months; age of hearing aid fitting was 31.3 months and age of auditory intervention was 40.5 months. There were significant differences in the age of diagnosis, hearing aid fitting and auditory intervention between congenitally hearing impaired children with and without hearing screening.

Conclusions: This research indicates that newborn hearing screening facilitates early identification, diagnosis and intervention of congenitally hearing impaired children in Taiwan. The age of identification, diagnosis and intervention of congenital hearing impaired children has also been reduced gradually over the years after government endorsement of newborn hearing screening in Taiwan.

Keywords: Congenital hearing loss; Hearing-impaired children; Newborn hearing screening.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child
Female
Health Promotion
Hearing Disorders / diagnosis*
Hearing Disorders / epidemiology
Hearing Tests / methods*
Humans
Incidence
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Neonatal Screening / methods*
Taiwan