Lo screening neonatale dei disturbi permanentidell’udito

Permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) of ≥ 40 decibels relative to hearing threshold level (dB HTL) is relatively common, affecting 1.2 infants per 1000 live births in industrialised countries and can have a devastating impact on communication skills, education attainment, and quality of life. As early identification and management of hearing impaired infants can improve language outcomes and no relevant harms are associated with programmes of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS), such programmes have been introduced in many countries.