Newborn Hearing Screening

Hannah was born full term after 40 weeks and two days of pregnancy. She began her first three days in the hospital by taking the universal newborn hearing test. The test is performed by placing a small probe into her ears. It only took a few minutes for the technician to tell me she failed in both ears. Needless to say, I was shocked. Neither Michael nor myself had any issues with hearing loss in our families. The only answers I had from the hospital was failing this screening was common and that it was probably a result of fluid in her ears, which is common for C-section babies. They told me I shouldn't worry. We tried our best to put this out of minds and we basked in the pure joy of having Hannah.

For the next two mornings, the screening was repeated in the hospital and Hannah failed each time. It's my nature to worry and I was really getting worried. I pressed the hospital nurse for more information but she called me "The Worrier" and moved on. Because Hannah failed the screening in the hospital, we were told to follow-up with an audiologist.