Results of a 1-year government-funded newborn hearing screening program in Taiwan

Objectives/Hypothesis To establish an ideal operative procedure of universal newborn hearing screening and to investigate whether a government-funded program increases compliance with such screening. Study Design Individual cohort study. Methods Of the 3,373 neonates born at the Taipei City Hospital during the period August 2009 to July 2010, there were 3,361 who received hearing screening with automatic auditory brainstem response (AABR) 24 to 36 hours after birth. The cost of each procedure (US $16.70) was covered by the Taipei City Health Bureau. The control group comprised 6,582 neonates born at the same hospital during the period January 2003 to December 2004, of whom 5,749 had been screened with transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE). The cost of each procedure (US $26.70) was paid by the parents of each newborn. Results The incidence of bilateral moderate to severe hearing impairment was 0.06% (two out of 3,361) and 0.10% (six out of 5,749) in the study and the control group, respectively. The incidence of unilateral hearing impairment was 0.09% (three out of 3,361) and 0.19% (11 out of 5,749) respectively. The coverage rate of the study was significantly higher than that of the control group (99.64% vs. 87.34%, P <.001). A significant decrease of the referral rate was achieved in the study group when compared with the control group (0.95% vs. 2.82%, P <.001). The follow-up rate of the study group was significantly higher than that of the control group (100.00% vs. 40.74%, P <.001). Conclusions The government-funded AABR program resulted in markedly better parental compliance with newborn hearing screening than the self-pay TEOAE screening program.