Purpose
To identify the age at diagnosis, intervention and amplification, pre and post Newborn Hearing Screening (NHS) implantation into a hearing health service and to compare with the indicators proposed by Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.
Methods
Three hundred and thirteen files of children enrolled in the auditory rehabilitation sector were analyzed, verifying if the newborn hearing screening and its results were performed, suspicion and age at the diagnosis, intervention and amplification and if they reach the recommended indicators: 3 months for diagnosis and 6 months for intervention.
Results
Children identified by the NHS were diagnosed and started the intervention sooner than those who did not perform newborn hearing screening. Considering the institutional demand pre and post NHS implementation, there was a reduction of intervention and amplification ages, post newborn hearing screening implementation. Regardless the NHS outcome (pass/fail), screened children had advantage when compared to the non-screened ones, once, among those screened, the diagnosis, intervention and amplification were anticipated. Less than a half of the children who failed NHS completed the diagnosis and began the intervention in the recommended period.
Conclusion
NHS anticipates the diagnosis and the intervention in children with hearing loss; however, some factors such as family non-adherence and the diagnosis slowed the process, making it impossible for the recommended indicators to be reached in most of the children.
Hearing loss; Early diagnosis; Child; Child health; Hearing
