The programme offering the free checks to all newborn children is designed to pick up any hearing loss and ensure interventions are put in place before future development is affected.
Southern District Health Board screening co-co-ordinator Rachel Simpson said until now the average age at which any hearing loss was diagnosed was 45 months.
By that time, a child would have missed out on important social education and their cognitive development could be delayed.
Under the programme all babies would have their hearing screened before they were discharged from hospital or at an outpatient appointment within their first month.
Initial screening would determine which babies needed a follow-up audiology assessment.
Those babies with hearing loss would receive family-centred support and interventions, such as hearing aids or cochlear implants, and this would be initiated no later than six months after birth.
Early intervention meant that babies would not miss out on family conversations and interaction with their peers.
The early help would include referral to the Ministry of Education's special education hearing adviser, who could assess what support was required.
The outcomes for these children and their families would be greatly improved, she said.
Each year in New Zealand up to 170 babies were born with permanent congenital hearing loss.
Sometimes, children had been as old as 17 before that was diagnosed.
While the programme began in three North Island district health boards three years ago, Southern is one of the last boards to introduce the programme.
Mrs Simpson said this had the advantage of the board being able to draw on the experience of other areas and it was clear the best coverage was achieved with dedicated hearing screeners.
In the southern region two are based in Dunedin and two in Invercargill, and it was hoped one would be stationed in Central Otago in future.
Mrs Simpson said there had been no shortage of applicants for the positions.
It was "lovely to work with parents and babies" in such a proactive way, she said.
Asked whether the screening might give some parents a false sense of security about their children's hearing, Mrs Simpson said an important part of the programme was giving parents information about the "milestones" to expect with their children's hearing.
This information was already in their Well Child/Tamariki Ora books, but parents might not necessarily read that.
Parents with concerns about the way their child listened or responded to noise should discuss this with their Plunket nurse, early childhood teacher or doctor.
The procedure:
- Two tests may be carried out by the hearing screeners.
- One involves a small earpiece being placed in the baby's ear which makes soft clicking sounds.
- A linked computer shows how the baby's ear responds.
- If this does not give a clear result, ear cups may be placed on the baby and soft clicking sounds played to him/her.
- The response from the baby's hearing nerve is picked up by this test.
