MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997 Nov 14;46(45):1073-6.
Hearing impairment without appropriate intervention among young children can delay the acquisition of speech and language skills that, in turn, can result in learning and other problems at school age. Interventions to reduce the occurrence of communication disabilities associated with hearing impairment are most successful if affected children are identified early, ideally during the first few months of life. Technologies are now available to accurately and routinely screen all newborns for hearing impairment before hospital discharge. One of the national health objectives for the year 2000 is to reduce the average age at which children with serious hearing impairment are identified to no more than 12 months (objective 17.16). Since 1991, CDC's Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program (MADDSP) has monitored the prevalence of serious hearing impairment among children aged 3-10 years in the metropolitan Atlanta area. This report presents findings from MADDSP for 1991-1993 (the most recent years for which data were available) about the age of diagnosis of serious bilateral hearing impairment among children born from 1981 through 1990 and highlights the public health intervention opportunity of universal newborn hearing screening programs for the earlier identification of and intervention for children with hearing impairment.
幼儿若存在听力障碍却未得到适当干预，可能会延迟其言语和语言技能的习得，进而导致学龄期出现学习及其他问题。若能尽早发现受影响的儿童，最好是在其出生后的头几个月内，那么减少与听力障碍相关的沟通障碍发生的干预措施最为有效。现在已有技术可在新生儿出院前准确且常规地筛查其听力障碍情况。2000年的一项国家卫生目标是将被确诊为严重听力障碍儿童的平均确诊年龄降低至不超过12个月（目标17.16）。自1991年以来，美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）的亚特兰大大都会发育障碍监测项目（MADDSP）一直在监测亚特兰大大都会地区3至10岁儿童中严重听力障碍的患病率。本报告呈现了MADDSP在1991 - 1993年（可获取数据的最近年份）对1981年至1990年出生儿童中严重双侧听力障碍诊断年龄的调查结果，并强调了普遍开展新生儿听力筛查项目对于更早发现听力障碍儿童并进行干预的公共卫生干预机会。
