Donna R. Halloran, M.D. assistant professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University (SLU) School of Medicine, and her colleagues evaluated hearing screening results during 1,060 routine doctors' visits at three academic and five private practices in Alabama. They found that 10 percent of the children failed a hearing screening, which means that they missed reacting to at least one frequency sounded in either ear at the 20-dB level. Of those children who failed the test, 59 percent received no further evaluation.

"The findings from this study are worrisome because physicians took no further action in more than 50 percent of the children who failed the hearing screening," Dr. Halloran said. "Further evaluation or intervention must take place to allow children with possible hearing impairment to benefit from screening practices. Screening that does not result in action for those failing the screening wastes resources and fails to initiate necessary intervention for hearing loss."