Newborn Hearing Screening Grant

WATERBURY –– Waterbury Hospital, through a grant from the American Savings Foundation, has added new, state-of-the-art hearing screening equipment to its Newborn Hearing Screening Program. With the grant, the Special Care Nursery has added a brand new hearing screening machine –– the Natus ALGO. Since hearing loss may occur at any point along the hearing pathway, ALGO screeners test the baby’s entire hearing pathway, from the outer ear to, and including, the brainstem.

 The new screener will enable the nursing staff in the Special Care Nursery to more easily detect early hearing problems in newborns using the machine’s completely standardized screening parameters that cannot be adjusted and provide automated results that require no interpretation. Every baby receives the same test and the same standard of care.

 “With the early detection of hearing loss, infants can be fitted with amplification devices as young as 4 weeks of age,” said Joseph Tuggle, MD, director of the Special Care Nursery at the Hospital.