Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and Incidence of Hearing Loss in Ramathibodi Hospital: A 5 Years Experience (2014 to 2018)

Background: Congenital hearing loss is an important factor affecting a child’s speech and language development. The quality of universal newborn hearing screening and hearing intervention program plays an important role in assisting children with permanent hearing to achieve appropriate speech and language development.
Objectives: To assess outcomes of the revised Ramathibodi Hospital universal newborn hearing screening (RUNHS) during 2014 to 2018, and to analyze the incidence of hearing loss in infants.
Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis, all newborns delivered at Ramathibodi Hospital from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2018 were included. Data were collected from medical records and evaluated the RUNHS outcomes compared with benchmarks. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data.
Results: Of 18 597 newborns, the screening coverage rate was 99. 8%, and the referral rate was 2.5%. The follow-up rate was 92.5%, and the diagnosis rate within 3 months of age was 20.1%. Among infants diagnosed with hearing loss, 42.9% received hearing aids by 6 months of age. The incidence of congenital permanent hearing loss was between 0.5 and 1.9 per 1000 live births.
Conclusions: The outcomes met the benchmarks for coverage and referral rate, but the diagnosis and hearing aid fitting rate did not meet the criteria. As of the incidence, the amount of children with congenital hearing loss in this study was similar to those reported by others.
 