Resources / Hearing

Newborn Hearing Screening

Your baby’s hearing screen.

The Infant Hearing Program provides hearing screening for newborns in hospital or community settings and includes both: 1) a newborn hearing screen; and 2) a blood spot screen by Newborn Screening Ontario (NSO). This routine blood spot sample is already collected by the Hospital or Midwife (heel prick test). It is checked for congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection and some genetic factors that identify a higher risk for permanent hearing loss.

What if my baby did not get a hearing screening at birth?

Newborn hearing screening works best within the first few weeks of life to maintain the greatest effectiveness and reliability of the screening equipment, procedures and protocols. Hearing screening is available to families until an infant is eight weeks of age. The NSO blood spot screen will continue to be completed and if there are concerns, you will be contacted by NSO directly.

A very mild hearing loss can be difficult to notice until possibly later in preschool. So, if you are at all concerned about your baby’s hearing, we urge you to contact an audiologist who is used to working with young children and book an assessment, if required. A list can be found on the College of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists of Ontario’s website at http://publicregister.caslpo.com/.

This is especially important if your baby did not receive a newborn hearing screen. Information and links for various checklists that may help you to understand your child’s hearing and communication development are listed below.

How do I know if an audiologist has experience with young children?

There are certain ways audiologists test young children to gather accurate information in a child-friendly way. Some audiologists test all ages, but others may only see older children and adults. Here are some questions you may want to ask when choosing an audiologist:

  • What age of children do you typically see?
  • How many children under the age of three do you typically see in a month?
  • Is there a fee for the hearing test? (Note: In some cases, there will be a fee).
Listed below are various checklists you may use to help you understand your child’s hearing and communication development. If you are concerned that your child is not displaying all of the listed skills, please contact a registered audiologist and the Preschool Speech and Language Program in your region.

Communication Checklists:

If you have questions or concerns about your child’s speech and language development, please contact the Preschool Speech and Language Program in your area:

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