Genetic Newborn Hearing Screening: The New Frontier

Newborn hearing screening (NBHS) has been successful at identification of children with hearing loss but is hampered by a high false positive rate and a high loss to follow up. Genetic testing has become essential in diagnostic evaluation of children with hearing loss. We propose that the current NBHS can be improved by incorporating genetic and cCMV screening as part of a ‘comprehensive’ NBHS with the goal being improved identification of children with hearing loss. Upon completion of this session, the participant will be able to: 1) Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the current newborn hearing screening methods. 2) Identify the importance of genetic evaluation for hearing loss. 3) Understand recent advances towards comprehensive newborn hearing screening.