Nearly one in 1,000 babies is born with some degree of hearing loss. The best way to help your baby is by making sure that he or she has a hearing screening before you leave the hospital or within three months of birth. This simple test is described in an article in the Livingston Enterprise.

The newborn hearing screen is a non-invasive procedure used to detect hearing loss in a newborn infant. The test takes about five to 10 minutes, while your baby is asleep or still. Soft sounds are presented to your baby’s ears through tiny probes placed in the ear canals. The instrument measures and analyzes the echo that is returned from the baby’s ear. Infants born at Livingston Memorial Hospital are tested before going home. Infants not born at the hospital should be tested no later than 3 months after birth.

It is important to know that many babies need a repeat screening test. It does not necessarily mean your baby has a hearing loss. A newborn with normal hearing may fail the first screening due to debris in the ear canal, fluid in the middle ear or moving/crying during the test.

Follow up testing is very important. If your baby does have hearing loss, it is important to catch it early. Babies begin to develop speech and language in the earliest months of life. If families know about a baby's hearing loss, much can be done to encourage communication development.