Canterbury Newborn Hearing Screening Extended

Canterbury Newborn Hearing Screening Extended to Rural Areas

More babies born in or transferred to rural areas are now able to have their hearing screened in the region in which they live.

The Canterbury District Health Board‘s Newborn Hearing Screening Programme for babies has recently been extended to the Rangiora, Ashburton and Lincoln areas with future plans to include Kaikoura. The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and Early Intervention Programme (UNHSEIP) started rolling out across Canterbury in May 2009. Its aim is to screen baby’s hearing by one month of age to enable diagnosis by three months of age, catch hearing loss early and reduce the previous average age of almost four years when hearing loss was detected.

In New Zealand up to 170 babies are born each year with moderate to significant hearing loss. According to the National Screening Unit, the early detection of hearing loss, ideally by three months of age, and being able to intervene early has been shown to greatly improve long-term language and communication skills. International evidence shows that babies who begin to receive appropriate intervention such as a hearing aid and developmental support before the age of six months can maintain language, social and emotional development equivalent with their physical development.

The UNHSEIP is expected to bring significant improvements in early detection rates, says Angela Deken CDHB Co-ordinator for the UNHSEIP.

By the end of June 2010, about 4820 babies had been screened within the CDHB’s screening programme.

“Four babies have been confirmed as having hearing loss so far,” she says. These babies were diagnosed by three months of age and if required had their hearing aids fitted when they were about four months of age.

Angela says previously rural women would have to travel to Christchurch to have their babies’ hearing screened. The programme is now making the most of Canterbury’s rural birthing units to offer all new parents the opportunity to have their newborn’s hearing screened in their community as a routine part of post natal care.

The screening will be offered twice a week at both Lincoln and Rangiora maternity units and once a week on Wednesdays in Ashburton’s Maternity Unit.

There are two types of screening methods, both of which are painless: one involves a small soft tipped earpiece being placed in the baby’s ear. This makes a clicking sound and a computer shows how the ear responds. The other screen involves the same soft sounds being played through ear cups and the computer assesses the hearing nerve response.

For more information about the screening programme see www.nsu.govt.nz or contact the CDHB newborn hearing screening office in Christchurch on 3644262.

ENDS

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