engleski

Early Identification of Hearing Impairment

Approximately 1-2 infants per 1,000 are born with a significant degree of hearing loss. Median age for identifying these infants is still about two to three years, although it is now widely accepted that the early identification of hearing impairment is crucial if infants are to reach their full linguistic potential. Hearing loss may also adversely affect social, emotional and academic development. At the European Consensus Development Conference on Neonatal Hearing Screening (Milan, 1998) it was accepted that permanent childhood hearing impairment is a serious public health problem, that universal screening methods are better then targeting ones which must be sensitive and highly specific, that screening should be considered to be the first part of a programme of habilitation and that implantation of the screening programmed should not be delayed although the healthcare systems in Europe differ from country to country in terms of organisation and funding. Authors would like to discuss the situation in our country and methods of screening which can be used even in the prenatal period (vibroacoustical fetal stimulator - D.Stojanović), or before newborns are discharged from hospital (auditory brainstem response - M.Pleše, B. Peter, evoked otoacoustic emission - B. Marn). Our aim is to find the best model for our healthcare system and to finally start the hearing screening programme in our country.

hearing impairment

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