Your Baby’s Hearing Screening
Your baby has returned a refer result after the 1st screening
What does a ‘refer’ result mean?
There may be several reasons as to why your baby returned a refer result. These include:
Your baby was unsettled during the first screening
Your baby’s skin was too moist for the screen at this stage
Your baby’s ear canal was not completely clear following the birth and this is a temporary issue that will likely resolve over the next few days
Your baby has a temporary hearing loss
Your baby has a permanent hearing loss
But my baby seems to respond to sounds, do they need a second screen?
It is very important that your baby has the second screen. Babies who have a hearing loss will still usually react to some sounds but not all pitches (at soft levels). If your baby does have a hearing loss it is important that you are referred to services to help with speech and language development before 3 months of age.
Your baby returns a refer result after the 2nd screen
If your baby refers at the second hearing screen you will be referred to an Audiologist (a clinician who specialises in testing the hearing of babies and children). Your Doctor or Screener can discuss this with you.
Download this Resource
All this information is from our brochure “Your Baby’s Hearing Screening, What does a ‘refer’ result mean? Information for parents”. A version of this information is available here for printing at home.