1–3–6: why a newborn’s hearing screen can’t wait
Screen by one month, diagnose by three, support by six. What the guideline means for parents, and what to do if your baby doesn’t pass.
Most babies born with hearing loss look and behave like any other baby. They startle, they smile, they coo. Without a screen, hearing loss is often only suspected when speech doesn’t arrive — at a year and a half, or two — and by then months of listening have been lost.
Screen by one month
An OAE screen takes a few minutes and is done while the baby sleeps. A soft probe plays quiet sounds and listens for the inner ear’s echo. If the result is ‘refer’, don’t panic: in the first days it is often just fluid in the ear canal. The screen is repeated, and an AABR screen may follow.
Diagnose by three months
If a baby doesn’t pass the repeat screen, a full diagnostic assessment tells us whether there is a hearing loss, how much, and in which ears.
Support by six months
Hearing aids can be fitted to a baby in the first months of life, and families can start listening and language work at home. The earlier this starts, the closer a child’s speech and language can come to their hearing peers’.
Screen again later if…
- There is a family history of childhood hearing loss
- Your baby spent more than five days in a neonatal ICU
- Your child had severe jaundice, meningitis or another serious infection
- Your child isn’t meeting the speech milestones for their age