EARLY hearing detection and intervention is the gold standard for any practising audiologist and families of infants and children with hearing impairment. KATIJAH KHOZA-SHANGASE, Associate professor, University of the Witwatersrand The goal of early hearing detection and intervention programmes is to identify, diagnose and take action early in a child’s life. The ideal sequence of events is: screening by six weeks of age, diagnosis by four months of age and commencement of intervention by eight months of age. This offers a much better chance of helping children develop and achieve at the same level as their hearing peers. Research has…