Improved case finding for pediatric hearing loss: cost analysis of school screening programs.

The majority of school hearing conservation programs employ pure tone identification audiometry as a basis of referral for further evaluation. An analysis of the cost impact of school screening programs is presented and a method of relating costs to screening program accuracy is described. This type of analysis may be used as a model for estimating cost impact and cost-benefit for pure tone audiometry and other techniques of screening for hearing loss.