Future directions for screening and treatment in congenital hearing loss

Hearing loss is the most common neurosensory deficit.It results froma variety of heritable and acquired causes and is linked to multiple deleterious effects on a child’s development that can be ameliorated by prompt identification and individualized therapies.Diagnosing hearing loss in newborns is challenging,especially in mild or progressive cases,and its management requires a multidisciplinary team of healthcare providers comprising audiologists,pediatricians,otolaryngologists,and genetic counselors.While physiologic newborn hearing screening has resulted in earlier diagnosis of hearing loss than ever before,a growing body of knowledge supports the concurrent implementation of genetic and cytomegalovirus testing to offset the limitations inherent to a singular screening modality.In this review,we discuss the contemporary role of screening for hearing loss in newborns as well as future directions in its diagnosis and treatment.