The foundation for future learning, behaviour and health is set in early childhood. Undetected permanent congenital hearing loss (PCHL) can impact all aspects of a child’s development. PCHL is found in 1 to 3 per 1000 births in the general newborn population. PCHL prevalence is 7x higher among infants who are admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU). Many infants identified with PCHL are healthy, born to hearing parents, and in most cases, there is no family history of hearing loss.

Without screening, there are no obvious early signs that an infant has hearing loss. In these cases, the average age of detection of severe hearing loss is 24 months, and mild to moderate losses may go unidentified until school age.

Alberta’s Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI) Program is a provincial, population-based screening program provided by Primary Care Alberta in partnership with other provincial health agency stakeholders.

The EHDI Program aims to identify PCHL as early as possible and provide timely intervention. When hearing loss is found early, infants and their families can access follow-up and support services sooner and minimize or prevent potential delays in language, learning and development outcomes associated with undetected hearing loss.

The EHDI Program standards (1-3-6) are to:

• Screen infants for hearing loss by 1 month of age
• Diagnose permanent hearing loss by 3 months of age
• Ensure access to intervention by 6 months of age

The EHDI Program is committed to meeting 1-3-6 standards, while maximizing participation by screening infants up to 6 months of age and performing diagnostic assessments later than 3 months of age when needed. Diagnostic Auditory Brainstem (ABR) testing by 3 months of age during natural sleep is optimal.

Early access to intervention provides access to critical auditory input during a key period of brain development, supporting improved long-term outcomes for children with hearing loss.

For Parents & Guardians