26:2-103.1 Findings, declarations relative to universal newborn hearing screening.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

Hearing loss occurs in newborns more frequently than any other health condition for which newborn screening is currently required. Moreover, early detection of hearing loss in a child and early intervention and treatment before six months of age has been demonstrated to be highly effective in facilitating a child's healthy development in a manner consistent with the child's age and cognitive ability. Eighty percent of a child's ability to learn speech, language and related cognitive skills is established by the time the child is 36 months of age, and hearing is vitally important to the healthy development of such language skills. Due to advances in medical technology, children of all ages can receive reliable and valid screening for hearing loss in a cost-effective manner. Appropriate screening and identification of newborns and infants with hearing loss will facilitate early intervention and treatment in the critical time period for language development, and may, therefore, serve the public purposes of promoting the healthy development of children and reducing public expenditures for health care and special education and related services.

Therefore, it is necessary for the Legislature to establish a universal newborn hearing screening program that will: a. provide early detection of hearing loss in newborn children at the hospital or birthing center or as soon after birth as possible; b. enable these children and their care givers to obtain needed multi-disciplinary evaluation, treatment, and intervention services at the earliest opportunity; and c. prevent or mitigate the developmental delays and academic failures associated with late identification of hearing loss.

L.2001,c.373,s.1.