Joint Committee on Infant Hearing

The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing was established in late 1969 and composed of representatives from audiology, otolaryngology, pediatrics, and nursing. It was the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA), the then American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology (AAOO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) who first met. The Committee was charged with a two-fold responsibility: first, to make recommendations concerning the early identification of children with, or at-risk for hearing loss and second, newborn hearing screening. In 1970, the committee's first statement was that mass hearing screening could not be justified at that time because there were no appropriate test procedures. The statement encouraged ongoing research and acknowledged the need to detect hearing loss early in life.

http://jcih.org/posstatemts.htm