News

Routine hearing screening for newborns starts at York County Hospital

Newmarket, Ontario - York County Hospital is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, all babies born at the hospital will undergo testing for hearing loss through a painless, non-invasive hearing screening test. This service, offered for those babies discharged from our hospital, compliments the hospital's designation as a regional centre for Paediatric and Perinatal care.

York County Hospital is one of few community hospitals in Ontario to offer hearing screening tests on a routine basis to all newborns. Many hospitals, such as the Hospital for Sick Children, do conduct hearing screening on newborns considered to be of high risk for hearing impairment.

"Significant hearing loss affects three to four of every 1,000 newborns, and routine testing may help us detect the problem before it causes any developmental or speech delays," commented, Dr. Muniini Mulera, Medical Director of Neonatology.

With this sophisticated equipment, the test involves the painless insertion of a probe into the newborn's outer ear canal. Sound is transmitted to the inner ear, reflected back and the computerized equipment calculates and indicates whether there is any evidence of hearing loss. The equipment purchased by York County Hospital has the additional capability of performing a second and more detailed screening if hearing loss is suspected by the initial test. Failure of the second screening would raise strong possibility of a true hearing loss and require further detailed assessment at a tertiary centre such as the Hospital for Sick Children.

"We made the decision to move forward with this program and support it through our global budget because we view it as a key service to support our mandate as a regional Paediatric and Perinatal centre," commented Patricia Norman, Vice-President, Areas of Focus.

This screening procedure presents no risks to the newborn, is conducted by a specially trained registered nurse and takes only seconds to perform while the baby is sleeping. Parents will have the option of being present during the testing and will receive an information sheet on what to look for to ensure that their child continues to show normal hearing development.