Hearing tests for babies at birth From 2011 all babies will have
their first hearing test within 48 hours of being born, thanks
to a Federal Government initiative. The tests are simple,
painless and take only a few minutes – yet are so important.
Hearing is such a vital sense for babies and children as they
start to learn about the world around them. It’s not only about
hearing things, but also about learning to speak, understanding
language and communicating with the world. In many countries now
newborn hearing tests have become standard with studies finding
that early screening has been linked with improved developmental
outcomes for hearing impaired children. About one in 500 babies
in Australia are born with a hearing loss. While that number may
not seem high, for littlies with hearing impairment this early
detection will have a huge impact on their future speech and
language development, enabling immediate intervention. How are
newborns tested? Obviously your newborn is not able to signify
when she hears