UNHS Making Great Strides
There are a lot of controversial issues in hearing health care, but one issue seems to be as universally agreed upon as its name implies: universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) should be a standard of care, and kids who have hearing impairment should get all the benefits of care that can be provided. This issue of HR centers on pediatric audiology and includes articles on how to help parents “buy into” their kid’s habilitation (page 24), tips for fitting severe or profound hearing losses (page 28), vestibular problems associated with infants and children (page 36), the counseling of teenagers (page 40), as well as a review of the latest OAE and ABR screening devices (page 44).

According to the National Campaign for Hearing Health (NCHH), about 12,000 infants per year are born with hearing impairment (about 1 in 300 births), making it the most prevalent birth defect in the US. Currently, only 69% of newborns are screened for hearing impairment. So far, the campaign to legislate UNHS has prompted 37 states and the District of Columbia to put laws on their books that support or mandate infant hearing screening. While this is a terrific improvement over the UNHS rate of 35% in 2000 (see “NCHH Report Card”, May 2000 HR, pages 42-44), our country and the hearing care field can commit itself to getting close to 100%.

The following table shows how many babies were screened in each state as of May 2002 versus May 2001, and the information comes from the NCHH Web site (www.healthyhearing.net). Those states in italics have legislation regarding UNHS.

HCHH is a grassroots organization associated with the Deafness Research Foundation (www.drf.org) that is committed to putting hearing health care on the national agenda. These organizations—as well as a host of others committed to the promulgation of UNHS—deserve our thanks and support. Let’s help them finish the job!

Karl Strom
Editor-In-Chief