§ Â 802A. Legislative findings and purpose.

The General Assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(1) Significant hearing loss is 1 of the most common major abnormalities present at birth and, if undetected, will impede the child’s speech, language, and cognitive development.

(2) Screening by high-risk characteristics alone (e.g., family history of deafness) only identifies approximately 50% of newborns with significant hearing loss.

(3) Reliance solely on physician and/or parental observation fails to identify many cases of significant hearing loss in newborns and infants.

(4) There is evidence that children with hearing loss, who are identified at birth and receive intervention services shortly thereafter, have significantly better learning capacity than children who are identified with hearing loss later than 6 months after birth.

(5) Legislation is needed to provide for the early detection of hearing loss in newborns and infants and to prevent or mitigate the developmental delays associated with late identification of hearing loss.