Between June 2023 and September 2024, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) was contracted by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (formerly the Department of Health and Aged Care) to progress development of nationally comparable data items that could support a future national data collection for newborn hearing screening. This report summarises the work of this project and outlines the recommended next steps to develop a national data collection.
The AIHW gratefully acknowledges the members of the newborn hearing screening data development committee, who provided valuable input regarding newborn hearing screening programs, practices, and data availability in their jurisdiction.
- Cat. no: PER 127
Key findings
-
All jurisdictions have universal newborn hearing screening programs and collect screening data
-
The national newborn hearing screening data development committee agreed to 21 data items for a national collection
-
The AIHW recommends a range of short, medium and longer-term steps to build on this work
-
A future national collection could potentially include assessment outcomes, identifiers, risk factors and interventions