Next steps in developing a national newborn hearing screening data set

Each year around 300,000 babies are born in Australia (AIHW 2024) and permanent hearing loss is believed to affect at least 1 to 2 babies per 1,000 births (Morton & Nance 2006; Vos et al 2019), potentially 300 to 600 babies per year. Universal newborn hearing screening aims to identify those born with permanent congenital hearing impairment and provide them and their families with access to appropriate interventions to minimise the impact of their hearing impairment and improve outcomes.

All Australian states and territories have universal newborn hearing screening programs. However, there is no standardised national data collection to support the measuring of screening delivery and outcomes from these programs. The aim of this project was to start to fill this significant gap by developing a national collection on newborn hearing screening. The current project focused on the newborn screening program within the hearing pathway. Future work could ensure the development of data on audiology assessment, amplification, implantation and early intervention services.