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In order to improve early detection of congenital permanent childhood hearing impairment the Austrian ENT society recommended in 1995 that universal neonatal hearing screening be introduced (''Millstätter Concept''). Coverage is presently about 67% for full-term healthy neonates and 86% for neonates from intensive care units. For maternity units, referral rates between 1% and 3.7% have been reported (2.7- 15% for intensive care units). The results of the screening test and follow-up in cases of failure have been documented in 37 543 neonates. Of this population, 91 infants (2.4 per 1000) showed bilateral permanent hearing loss. In these children intervention and management of the family started within the first months of life. These results justify the effort involved in introducing universal neonatal hearing screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]