child in Bermuda within about four hours of their birth.

Statistics have shown that impaired hearing is the most common congenital defect found in newborn babies.

But the earlier problems are spotted, the earlier therapy can be put in place.

Local doctor Dr. Robert Vallis and Helen Court, an English hearing specialist, are discussing the idea of universal screening with the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Government and insurance companies.

New technology allows an infant to have its hearing tested in a quick and painless procedure while they sleep.

Ms Court said: "It allows for a reliable test of hearing with no participation on the baby's part.'' "Universal newborn hearing screening is now used in many parts of the world: in the UK it is the law,'' she added.

As for in Bermuda, they said, discussions were ongoing.

"These things take time,'' Dr. Vallis noted.

Ms Court said the cost of treating an older child with a hearing impairment, and therefore speech and language impairments, far outweighs the cost of having a simple test done at birth.

Dr. Vallis said: "Previously you couldn't really test for hearing impairment until a child was two-and-a-half or three-years old.

"Now we have techniques in Bermuda for testing in newborns.'' The time around the ages of two and three, for example, is critical.

"That's when you put on a real spurt of developing language,'' said Dr.

Vallis.

However language and speech cannot be properly developed if the child cannot hear.

Dr. Vallis said: "Infants are routinely tested for various disorders mostly through the blood.'' "That's fine, you can listen to their heart beat etc. But you can't look at a child and tell that they have hearing loss.'' "It's important to detect them at the beginning,'' added Dr. Vallis. "And it's nice to know that all the others have normal hearing. It's a good thing.''