A sound start: Celebrating 20 years of newborn hearing screening in Kent and Medway

Twenty years ago, babies in Kent and Medway didn’t have their hearing checked until they were around eight months old. By then, tests were less accurate, and many children with hearing loss weren’t identified until they started school.

Today, thanks to the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP), that story has changed dramatically.

Jenny Lynn knows this better than anyone. She’s been a screener at Medway Maritime Hospital since the programme began in 2005.

“We can now screen a well baby from just five hours old, which is amazing when you think about how things used to be. Early screening means hearing issues are picked up straight away and babies are referred to audiology without delay. That can be life-changing for a child.”

For Jenny, the role is more than a job – it’s a privilege.

“We meet families at such a special time in their lives. Our job is to reassure them and put them at ease. Every day is different – sometimes we’re on the ward, other times we run clinics for babies born overnight who need to come back for screening.”

Jenny and her colleagues see about 500 babies a month at Medway Maritime Hospital, with each screening taking about 10 minutes. Over the years, she’s even had families remember her when they return with their second or third child.

“It’s lovely when that happens. It reminds you of the impact you’ve had. We’re not audiologists – we don’t do full hearing tests – but what we do is the first step in making sure every child gets the best start.”

Across Kent and Medway, the NHSP team includes 13 screeners, two senior screeners and a coordinator, working across three hospital sites – Tunbridge Wells, Darent Valley, and Medway Maritime. Together, they screen around 15,000 babies every year, identifying one to two in every 1,000 babies with moderate to profound hearing loss in one or both ears.

The Newborn Hearing Screening Programme is one of 11 national screening programmes in England, alongside breast and bowel cancer screening. Its impact over the past two decades has been profound – making sure thousands of children get the support they need from the very start of life.