Newborn hearing tests

• The first few months and years of your child’s life are very important for learning to talk.
• Finding and helping children with hearing loss when they are young is very important.
• They can give them a better chance of learning to talk and understand what people say to them.
• We provide a special hearing test for your baby while they are asleep or resting.
• This test is called a ‘newborn hearing screen’.
• All newborn babies in Tasmania can have this free hearing test.

What happens during the test

• The test usually takes place in hospital.
• If the test doesn’t happen in hospital, we will make an outpatient appointment for you.
• The test takes about 10-20 minutes.
• The doctor may run the test twice.
• The doctor will give you the results at the end of the test.
• The results are recorded in your baby’s Personal Health Record book.

How the test works

• Your baby must be asleep or resting.
• We use special technology to test your baby’s hearing. This is called Automated ABR (AABR).
• The AABR runs thousands of click sounds.
• We review how your baby respond to these sounds.

Reasons your baby may not pass the test

• They were under 12 hours old.
• They had a temporary blockage in their ear canal or middle ear.
• They were unsettled or noisy during the test.
• They have some level of permanent or temporary hearing loss.
• There was a background noise or electrical interference during the test.

What happens if your baby doesn’t pass the test

• The next step is for your baby to have a full hearing test. This is called a ‘diagnostic’ test.
• Diagnostic testing can also show normal hearing or a short-term temporary loss.
• The test can take between 20-minutes and 2 hours.
• The testing is performed by a special hearing doctor called an ‘audiologist’.

What happens during the diagnostic test

• The audiologist measures your baby's response to a range of sounds while they are asleep.
• These responses are picked up from your baby's hearing nerve by sticky pads.
• The sticky pads are placed on your baby's head.
• None of these tests will hurt your baby.
• Placing the sticky pads can wake a sleeping baby. Please delay feeding and sleeping until the test.
• Once the sticky pads are in place you can settle your baby to sleep. We allow plenty of time.
• The audiologist will tell you the results and what they mean. This usually happens straight away.