Starting January first, a new law goes into effect in California requiring that all hospitals in the state to test newborns' ability to hear. Most of California’s hospitals started offering the state-mandated program after its launch in 2000 but about a quarter do not. In real numbers, that means about 130,000 newborns go through little or no hearing screening each year. About two out of every 1,000 infants in California are born deaf. There are 19 states right now without universal hearing screening programs.
