In Canada and the U.S., the newborn hearing screening process has screened almost all births each year.

So why do children need a hearing screening?

After reviewing the medical records of 326 children who had hearing loss, a study found that not all children with hearing loss were detected by newborn hearing screening.

First, not all childhood hearing loss is present at birth.

Babies with milder or progressive hearing losses may pass their newborn screenings, while others may unfortunately be lost to follow-up.

Also, children born outside of the country may never been screened as a newborn.

Many school districts do not mandate hearing screening in schools.

Children spend approximately 60% of the school day listening. When children do not develop age-appropriate communication skills, do not acquire the basic phonemic skills to develop literacy, or do not make adequate general academic progress, there may be an assumption that the delays are due to reasons other than hearing ability.

From:

Jolkowski, K. (2024). Stepping Up Hearing Screening in Schools. ASHA Wire,  https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/2024-1016-educational-aud-awareness/full/

School Based Advocacy Series: Hearing Screening: https://www.edaud.org/advocacy/3-advocacy-09-09.pdf