The hearing-impaired infant: patterns of identification and habilitation.

The 1982 Position Statement by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing recommends that infants at risk for hearing impairment be screened by 3 mos of age and that the diagnostic process be completed an habilitation begun by 6 mos of age. How close to this ideal actual practice comes in an urban setting is the subject of this study, Data on 88 infants referred to a hospital-based parent-infant program were retrospectively examined to determine the occurrence of risk factors and at what ages: (1) hearing loss was first suspected, (2) hearing loss was diagnosed, and (3) habilitation was initiated. Results indicate that over one-quarter of all hearing-impaired infants will not manifest any of the risk factors proposed in the 1982 Position Statement and that regardless of whether the infant graduates from a neonatal intensive care unit or well-baby nursery, the median age for enrollment in a parent-infant program is a year or more later than the 1982 recommendation.