Position Statement of the Joint Committee on Children’s Hearing on Hearing Loss Associated with Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV) can cause a wide range of diseases in newborns, it is most often associated with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). cCMV is the leading cause of non-hereditary SNHL (up to 25% of all SNHL cases in). SNHL can be congenital and can have late-onset (up to 50% of cases) up to school age, it determines the risk of its late diagnosis. Children with cCMV should be referred for diagnostic examination even after successfully passed newborn hearing screening. The child remains under the dynamic audiologist’s follow-up, if the diagnostic examination results are normal. Management of children with confirmed hearing loss includes early auditory prosthesis; in cases of severe hearing loss and ineffective auditory prosthesis — cochlear implantation, speech-language therapy, parents training and informing.