HEARING AID FITTING AND HABILITATION FOLLOWING NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING: A FOLLOW-UP STUDY ON NICU INFANTS

Objective: Newborn hearing screening (NHS) began in July 2002 at Kitasato University Hospital. Infants who failed NHS were referred to the Department of Otolaryngology, where otolaryngologists and speech-language-hearing therapists carried out further evaluations for hearing, diagnosis, hearing aid fitting, and habilitation. The aim of this study was to report on the long-term follow-up of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) infants who failed NHS between 2003 and 2012. Methods: Participants were 53 NICU infants who failed NHS, whose ages at further evaluations for hearing, diagnosis, hearing aid fitting, and habilitation were examined in this study. Results: The mean age of infants at further evaluations for hearing was 5.2 ± 5.4 months. Eight were diagnosed with normal hearing; others, with unilateral (9), mild (15), moderate (12), severe (3) or profound (6) hearing loss. Mean age at first hearing aid fitting was 24 ± 25 months in mild, 23 ± 15 months in moderate, 18 ± 7.6 months in severe, and 15 ± 7.2 months in profound hearing loss. Approximately 86.2% of those with bilateral hearing loss had multiple disabilities; 54% with mild or moderate and 56% with severe or profound hearing loss needed special education for mental retardation (MR). Conclusions: The majority of NICU infants had multiple disabilities. Their age at hearing aid fittings was later than that of well-baby nursery infants. More than half required not only special education for hearing impairment but also for MR. The results suggest the need for individualized habilitation programs.