BACKGROUND: Congenital hearing disorder, which has an occurrence of 1 in 1000 newborn babies, is a health problem that should be taken seriously. Once it has been discovered too late, it leads to lifelong language, intellectual, emotional and social problems. The aim of this project was the critical evaluation of a universal, ABR-based newborn hearing screening, looking at the specificity and the success of the method used as well as the organisational requirements and costs involved with this method. METHODS: From August 1999 until March 2000, 464 newborn babies, born at the University Hospital Eppendorf in Hamburg, were examined with the Algo portable. Another 31 children, all younger than 6 months, were also examined with the Algo portable, because of suspected hearing loss. When a child got a refer twice by the Algo portable, the child was examined again, using the conventional ERA-machine (Evoselect) to confirm the suspected hearing loss and to assess its grade. RESULTS: 98% of the newborns at our hospital were examined. Up to now, out of 13 conspicuous children, the majority of which belonged to the risk group, 6 have been identified as unambiguously bilateral and 2 as unilateral hard of hearing. After an introductory period of two months, the average costs per examination could be set at 38.65 DM and app. 3200 DM per bilateral hearing loss discovered. CONCLUSION: A Universal Newborn Hearing Screening is necessary and can be executed with calculable effort with concern to personnel, time and finance.
