OBJECTIVE: This investigation was to ascertain the performance of the UNHS in Taiwan.
METHODS: The predefined questionnaire was delivered on the phone in 2016. The descriptive analysis was applied to the research data. 941 neonates in birth cohorts 2013-2014 who were documented as a bilateral referral in the national UNHS tracking system were targeted. The respondents were either caregivers or family members.
RESULTS: 40.3% of 941 children were lost to follow-up, and 66.24% of 363 children were diagnosed with SNHL. 45.15% of 163 children used hearing amplification device(s). 77.46% of hearing amplification device users and 7.51% of non-users participated in the auditory training courses. By six months of age, 38.51% and 22.58% of children diagnosed with bilateral SNHL commenced the hearing amplification device fitting and the auditory training courses, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: More efforts are needed to enhance the performance of the UNHS to achieve national goals stated in the 2014 Taiwan UNHS Revised Guidelines and the well-known benchmarks set by the JCIH in 2007. The development of an electronic tracking system for storing and sharing information on the follow-up on children with congenital hearing loss was as significant as the improvements in the understanding of early hearing detection and intervention of the public and stakeholders.

For the first time, a detailed epidemiological study of hearing impairments (HI) in the children\'s population of St. Petersburg (n=3098) was conducted. The data on the incidence of HI in children, the distribution of children depending on the degree of hearing loss, HI type, the presence of additional disorders, risk factors for hearing loss were obtained. Only 19% of children with HI were diagnosed in accordance with modern requirements of early care - at the age of 3 months. In children who underwent universal newborn hearing screening the average age of diagnosis was significantly lower than in children who were not screened. Only 54% of HI children use hearing aids (HA) or cochlear implants. Among the children who do not use HA, the main number is children with mild and moderate hearing loss, unilateral hearing loss and otitis media with effusion. A significant part of them should be considered as candidates for amplification according to current recommendations. The average interval between diagnosis and amplification was 15.7 months. Only 5% of children from the entire population of children with HI received early intervention in accordance with the modern time standard: 1 month (detection) - 3 months (diagnosis) - 6 months (amplification). The problems of organizing an effective care for HI children and the directions of its development are discussed: improving newborn hearing screening; introduction the system of informing the citizens and doctors of related specialties (pediatricians, neurologists) in the field of prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation of HI in children; expansion of genetic testing of children; reducing time of waiting and improving the quality of HA provided to handicapped children.
UNASSIGNED: Эпидемиологическое исследование детской тугоухости и анализ влияния эпидемиологических и социальных факторов на слухопротезирование детей с нарушением слуха на примере Санкт-Петербурга.
UNASSIGNED: Впервые проведено детальное эпидемиологическое исследование нарушений слуха (НС) в детской популяции Санкт-Петербурга (n=3098).
UNASSIGNED: Получены данные о частоте выявления НС у детей, количественном распределении детей в зависимости от степени тугоухости, типа НС, стороны поражения, наличия сопутствующих нарушений, факторов риска развития тугоухости. Установлено, что только у 19% детей НС диагностированы в соответствии с современными требованиями ранней помощи — в возрасте до 3 мес. У детей, прошедших аудиологический скрининг новорожденных, средний возраст установления диагноза был статистически значимо меньше, чем у детей, у которых скрининг не проводился. Только 54% детей с НС используют слуховые аппараты (СА) или кохлеарные импланты. Среди неслухопротезированных детей основное число составляли дети с тугоухостью I—II степени, односторонней тугоухостью и экссудативным отитом. Значительная часть из них должны рассматриваться как кандидаты на слухопротезирование согласно современным рекомендациям. Средний интервал между установлением диагноза и слухопротезированием составил 15,7 мес. Только 5% из всей популяции детей с НС получили раннюю помощь в соответствии с современным временным стандартом: «1 месяц (выявление) — 3 месяца (диагностика) — 6 месяцев (слухопротезирование)». Обсуждаются проблемы организации эффективной помощи детям с НС и направления ее развития: совершенствование универсального аудиологического скрининга новорожденных; внедрение системы информирования населения и врачей смежных специальностей (педиатров, неврологов) в области предотвращения, диагностики НС у детей и их реабилитации; создание регионального регистра лиц с НС; расширение генетического тестирования детей; сокращение сроков ожидания и повышение качества СА, предоставляемых детям-инвалидам.
UNASSIGNED: Исследование показало определенные успехи педиатрической сурдологической службы Санкт-Петербурга, достигнутые благодаря введению универсального аудиологического скрининга новорожденных. Вместе с тем выявленные проблемы — это важные ориентиры при формировании стратегии дальнейшего развития детской сурдологии.

OBJECTIVE: To explore risk factors for non-participation for the Danish universal newborn hearing screening program, including socioeconomic demographic and peripartum conditions. Furthermore, the participation rate between children with medical risk factors for congenital hearing loss and healthy newborns was analyzed.
METHODS: The study was register-based and included all live births in Denmark between January 1st, 2008 and December 31st, 2011, in total 251,081 children. Potential risk factors were extracted from eight Danish national registers and analyzed via logistic regression models.
RESULTS: With respect to the participation rate, the strongest predictors of non-participation were increased maternal parity (from OR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.82-0.89; p<0.0001 to OR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.38-0.47; P<0.0001), low socio-economic status, including income, (from OR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.09-1.23; p<0.0001 to OR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.37-1.56; p<0.0001) and home birth (OR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.42-0.80; p=0.001). Children with a medical risk factor for congenital hearing loss had a 1.97% lower participation rate. Assisted ventilation and admission to a newborn intensive care unit for > 48 hours were identified as independent risk factors of non-participation for this group (OR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.52-0.80; p<0.0001 and OR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.85-0.99; p=0.036, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: In order to improve the participation rate, a national screening database in conjunction with a stronger collaboration between screening units and other health care professionals who are in contact with the family during the newborn period is warranted.

A total of 427 women (aged 18-45 years) who delivered a singleton neonate without serious medical complications were randomized to watch either an educational intervention (n = 225) or the sudden infant death syndrome (n = 202) video. Linear mixed models showed that the intervention women significantly gained knowledge over time. Knowledge gain was largest among high-socioeconomic status (high-SES) and middle-SES English-speaking, smaller among low-SES Spanish-speaking, and nonsignificant among low-SES English-speaking women. Analysis of deviance revealed that the intervention women of all SES learned strategies fostering secure attachment and language acquisition. Participants considered watching an educational video alongside the universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) conveniently timed. The intervention women were more likely than the control women to recognize the importance of timely UNHS follow-up.

Non-uniform, late, or inappropriate care of childhood with permanent hearing impairment (PHI) predisposes many children to develop communicative- behaviour problems and impaired psychosocial adjustment that can persist in adolescence and adulthood.In March 2014, the CCM (Centro Controllo Malattie or Disease Control Centre) of the Italian Ministry of Health funded a project entitled \" Preventing Communication Disorders: a Regional Program for Early Identification, Intervention and Care of Hearing Impaired Children\". The project involved 5 tertiary centres with UNHS programs formally approved by the Region. The main purpose of the project is to define and launch an integrated regionally-based public health model for identification, diagnosis and intervention of childhood PHI. The first phase of the project investigated the state of art and produced recommendations for positive changes in identification, diagnosis, therapy and care of childhood PHI in Italy, taking into account diagnostic and treatment innovations, family empowerment, treatment alliance and an interdisciplinary approach. Recommendations drawn from this initial phase will represent the basis for a regional system for early intervention that is validated, integrated and shared between the five regions.
Una presa in carico non uniforme, tardiva o inappropriata dei bambini con deficit uditivo aumenta il rischio di sviluppare difficoltà comunicative-comportamentali e psicosociali che possono persistere fino all\'adolescenza o all\'età adulta. Nel Marzo 2014 il Centro di Controllo Malattie (CCM) del Ministero della Salute Italiano ha finanziato il progetto \"Programma regionale di identificazione, intervento e presa in carico precoci per la prevenzione dei disturbi comunicativi nei bambini con deficit di udito\". Il progetto coinvolge 5 centri di III livello in cui il programma di screening uditivo neonatale è stato approvato dalla regione di appartenenza. Lo scopo principale del progetto è quello di definire e proporre un modello di salute pubblica su base regionale per l\'identificazione delle ipoacusie infantili permanenti, la diagnosi e l\'intervento. La prima fase del progetto prevede di indagare lo stato dell\'arte e di produrre raccomandazioni che possano portare a cambiamenti positivi nell\'identificazione, nella diagnosi, nella terapia e nella presa in carico dei bambini con deficit uditivo, tenendo presenti le innovazioni diagnostiche-riabilitative, il sostegno e l\'alleanza terapeutica con la famiglia, un approccio interdisciplinare. Le raccomandazioni emerse da questa prima fase rappresenteranno le basi per un sistema regionale di intervento precoce che sia valido, integrato e condiviso da tutte le cinque regioni coinvolte.

OBJECTIVE: The main aim was to establish if epidural anesthesia had an influence on new-born hearing screening results in newborns born via elective Cesarean section in healthy pregnancies. Specific objectives included determining screening results in a group of newborns born to mothers who had undergone epidural anesthesia during Cesarean section childbirth (experimental group); and comparing the findings with those of a group of newborns born to mothers who had undergone natural delivery without epidural anesthesia (comparison group); while establishing if the time of screening following delivery had any effect on the overall screening results.
METHODS: The above objectives were achieved through the use of a prospective quasi-experimental repeated measures design with a comparison group, where 40 newborns (20 in the experimental and 20 in the comparison group) were screened at three different times through transient otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) measures. All participants were screened while resting quietly in open bassinets in an empty new-born nursery. For both test measures, the results were recorded as either pass or refer. Data were analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistics.
RESULTS: Findings indicated that hearing screening earlier than four hours after birth, for both the experimental and comparison groups yielded more false positive findings than testing conducted after 24 hours. An index of suspicion in relation to the influence of epidural anesthesia on Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR), when conducted less than four hours after birth, was raised, as statistically significant findings (P<0.05) were obtained.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings have implications for timing of screening where universal newborn hearing screening is being implemented.