Comparison of newborn hearing screening results between well babies and neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for more than 5 days: Analysis based on the national database in Korea for 9 years.

The prevalence of hearing loss in infants who were hospitalized in NICU for more than 5 days was about seven times higher than that in healthy newborns. However, different referral rates were noted depending on both institutions and the screening methods. These differences need to be addressed in order to improve our program and ensure that all neonates with hearing loss, especially neonates with high risk factor, are detected and appropriately referred for the treatment.