At ASHA Journals, we celebrate the important role that ASHA members play when working with people of all ages—from newborn infants to older adults. This week, in honor of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Awareness Month, we’re celebrating those of you who work with the youngest individuals. Check out some recently published articles below that can help you continue to provide quality, evidence-based care in the NICU.
Infant and Neonatal Hearing
Ototoxic Drug Exposure and Hearing Loss in Neonates: A Scoping Review: Infants with acute and chronic illnesses, such as those born with respiratory heart disease, may be treated with a number of ototoxic drugs in the NICU. The information in this scoping review can you monitor ototoxicity levels, prescribe safer medications, and mitigate the risk of hearing loss.
Receipt of Audiological Threshold Testing Among Infants Not Passing Their Newborn Hearing Screen: Experts recommend a full hearing test with auditory thresholds when babies don’t pass their newborn hearing screening, but this doesn’t always happen. Authors found that two factors—NICU admittance and mother’s education level—most affected how likely these infants were to receive a complete hearing test.
Inpatient Audiologic Services Facilitate Early Hearing Detection: Infants in the NICU who do not pass a newborn hearing screening are more likely to be diagnosed with congenital hearing loss, making it particularly important to secure follow-up appointments. Learn about barriers to timely hearing detection in the NICU—as well as what NICUs can do to facilitate early hearing detection and intervention.
Feeding and Swallowing Issues in Newborns
Prevalence of Parent-Reported Problematic Eating Behaviors and Skills at 8–24 Months of Age in Infants Born at Less Than 34 Weeks Gestation: Infants born preterm, particularly prior to 34 weeks, often have difficulty with oral feeding in the NICU. Although they are often able to achieve oral feeding by their term-equivalent age, they may demonstrate problematic feeding behavior over the first 2 years and require follow-up appointments.
Evaluation of Swallowing Dysfunction With Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing in the Neonatal Unit: Preterm and low-birthweight infants are typically assessed for swallowing dysfunction by a videofluoroscopic swallowing study. In this article, the authors discuss the use of a flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing in order to spot areas of concerns without exposure to radiation.
Celebrating Your Role in the NICU
We’re proud of the incredible role that you and other ASHA members play in the NICU every day. We hope that these resources give you and your colleagues some new ideas to continue helping infants and parents during their stay at the NICU. These articles will be available for free for the next 2 weeks, and we encourage you to share them during this period.
In addition, ASHA’s Practice Portal page on NICU care provides information and resources for members working in the NICU. We encourage you to take advantage of and share these important tools during NICU Awareness Month and beyond!
