• Infants will be screened at birth, preferably before discharge from the nursery.
• Infants who are 2 years of age or under and who have not been screened by the Infant Hearing Program
• Infants who are 2 years of age and under and who have been screened previously, but have met one of the following risk criteria:
• According to Infant Hearing Program infant development chart, infant is not meeting language development milestones for their age
• Doesn’t respond to sound e.g. startle to loud sounds, respond to parent’s voice unless facing them, etc.
• Member of immediate family with permanent childhood hearing impairment
• Certain infections associated with hearing loss, including bacterial meningitis
• Other conditions as determined by the child’s physician

Who should not be screened?

• When a child has an ear infection or an ear infection is suspected, the child should be seen by their physician. An ear infection can affect the results of a screening and the presence of a permanent hearing loss cannot be detected

• Children over 2 years of age should be referred by their physician to an audiology clinic if any hearing loss is suspected