Health Watch is a Public Service of the Office of News and Publications and is intended to provide general information only and should not replace the advice of a medical professional. You should contact your physician if you have questions about any of these topics.
This week on "Healthwatch" we're talking about how to bring up healthy children. It's a process that starts as soon as a child is born. There are a number of health tests conducted on infants at birth to detect any potential problems as soon as possible. One of these tests is a hearing screening. Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that testing infants' hearing within hours of birth, then again before the infants are discharged if they failed the first test, results in fewer false positive results.
The second test may show that a baby failed the first test because of fluid or debris in the ear canals and not due to a true hearing problem.
If the child fails the second test, UT Southwestern doctors suggest a follow-up hearing test, and then referral to a specialist.
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Feb. 2005
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