Who performs the newborn hearing screening?
First Sounds hearing screenings are performed by carefully trained personnel under the supervision of a licensed and certified Audiologist, using two different technologies to screen for hearing loss. Most babies will have their hearing screened using Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE), in which soft sounds are introduced into the ear using a small probe in the ear canal. The computerized equipment measures an “echo” that the ear makes in response to these sounds. Some babies, including babies who are in the NICU, babies with a family history of hearing loss and babies with other risk factors, will also have their hearing screened with Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR). With an ABR screening, a soft sound is presented to the ear and electrodes measure responses to the sound. Both procedures are painless and are performed while the baby is resting or asleep. When is the newborn hearing screening performed? The hearing screening is done while your baby rests. It takes about 15 minutes and is no
