26 Apr Have your newborn’s hearing tested for their healthy development.
If your child was born on Apr. 1, 2020 or later, and you are living in Sapporo, part of the cost to get the newborn hearing screen test is subsidized.
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Starting April 1 (Wednesday), Sapporo City will issue an examination consultation ticket together with the Mother and Child Health Handbook. If you already have a Mother and Child Health Handbook, please contact the health center in your ward.
For those who gave birth on or after April 1, 2020 (Wed) Contact: Your Ward’s Health Center, or the Sapporo City Call Center 011 (222) 4894 The contact information for Health Centers can be found here (Japanese): http://www.city.sapporo.jp/shisetsuannai/hoken/ [City of Sapporo Information)]
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When hearing is screened with an auditory brainstem response (ABR) or otoacoustic emission response (OAE) type test, up to 3,000 yen will be covered by submitting the ticket issued with the Maternal and Child Health Handbook to designated medical institutes.
Screening your Newborn for Hearing Loss Hearing loss is a common disorder at birth, occurring in 1 to 2 per 1000 newborns. Hearing loss can lead to delayed language development and poor academic achievement. Screening for hearing loss in newborns can help through early intervention with speech and language therapy which is thought to improve speech and language development. We check the hearing of all babies using an automated ABR test during hospitalization. The best time for the test is when a baby is sleeping or calm. A baby just listens to the small clicking sounds from an ear cup for a few minutes. Three surface electrodes detect waveform recordings. There are no harmful side effects and the babies feel no pain. The automated ABR test doesn’t work well when babies are overly active or crying, or when babies’ skin is covered with the thick vernix caseosa. In these cases, we’ll try the test at another time. Pediatricians will tell you the result during your baby’s discharge examination. The result will be “Pass” or “Refer”
・”Pass” means that your baby’s hearing is fine at this time. Few children suffer from progressive hearing loss after their newborn period, though a few might acquire hearing loss because of viral infections such as mumps or bacterial meningitis. If you feel your baby doesn’t react properly to sounds and/or has a speech delay, please contact medical professionals.
・”Refer” doesn’t necessarily mean your baby has hearing loss. It means your baby needs to be screened again. There are various reasons the test might not have worked well, such as leftover fluid in the middle ear or premature brain reaction to the sound. We’ll do the same test at another time. If the second result is also “refer”, the baby needs to see an otologist specializing in children’s hearing. Kin-ikyo Sapporo Hospital
Obstetrical & Pediatrics Depertment