Joint Committee on Infant Hearing 1994 Position Statement

Abstract

This 1994 Position Statement was developed by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. Joint committee member organizations that approved this statement and their respective representatives who prepared this statement include the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (Allan O. Diefendorf, PhD, Chair; Deborah Hayes, PhD; and Evelyn Cherow, MA, ex officio); the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery (Patrick E. Brookhouser, MD, and Stephen Epstein, MD); the American Academy of Audiology (Terese Finitzo, PhD, and Jerry Northern, PhD); the American Academy of Pediatrics (Allen Erenberg, MD, and Nancy Roizen, MD); and the Directors of Speech and Hearing Programs in State Health and Welfare Agencies (Thomas Mahoney, PhD, and Kathie J. Mense, MS). The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing endorses the goal of universal detection of infants with hearing loss as early as possible. All infants with hearing loss should be identified before 3 months of age, and receive intervention by 6 months of age. I. BACKGROUND In 1982, the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing recommended identification of infants at risk for hearing loss in terms of specific risk factors and suggested a follow-up audiologic evaluation until an accurate assessment of hearing could be made (Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, 1982; American Academy of Pediatrics, 1982). In 1990, the Position Statement was modified to expand the list of risk factors and recommend a specific hearing screening protocol. In concert with the national initiative Healthy People 2000 (US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1990), which promotes early identification of children with hearing loss, this 1994 Position Statement addresses the need to identify all infants with hearing loss.