Hearing loss is one of the most common disorders among newborns (newborn children). One to six out of every 1000 newborns have hearing loss. In China, about 16 million new children are born every year in the past 5 years, of which about 16,000-96,000 have hearing problems.
Normal hearing is the key to ensuring normal speech and language development for children up to one year of age. Hearing loss significantly affects not only the child’s ability to speak, but also many other aspects of the child’s development, including intelligence. 95% of children with hearing problems have parents who have normal hearing. Children are unable to tell adults about their hearing problems, and most children with hearing problems do not show signs and symptoms that are different from those of hearing children, nor can hearing problems be seen by observing the appearance of the child’s ears. Therefore, hearing screening for newborn children can help detect hearing problems early, so that further early diagnosis, intervention and rehabilitation can be made for hearing problems.
On June 1, 2009, the “Measures for the Administration of Newborn Disease Screening” promulgated by the Ministry of Health of China came into effect. The measures clearly state that newborns should be screened for three diseases: the first one is hearing loss, followed by congenital hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria. Of the three diseases, hearing loss, once detected early and intervened in time, has the most desirable rehabilitation effect. We believe that with the development and popularization of newborn hearing screening in China, more and more children with hearing problems will be able to live a healthy and happy life as normal hearing children!