The review of newborn hearing screening program in neonatal intensive care unit

The incidence of hearing impairment in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was much higher than that of well-baby nursery. The incidence of the former was 2%-4%, whereas that of the latter was 0.1%-0.3%. Furthermore, the incidence of auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder, progressive and delayed hearing loss was also higher than those of other infants. Therefore, the newborn hearing screening program in NICU has become an important part of pediatric audiology. In this paper, we reviewed the previous studies and suggested the special procedure of hearing screening and following-up which based on the physiological and pathological characteristics of NICU in order to detect hearing impaired as early as possible.