Early identification of hearing loss in newborns is associated with improved cognitive, speech, language, and social-emotional outcomes. Yet a high proportion of parents withdraw from universal newborn hearing screening programs following the first screening, even if the screening indicates a need for further testing. This is thought to be due, in part, to parents' anxiety and stress over the initial results. Brenda Poon is investigating how the screening program environment affects the way parents cope with the stress of discovering their newborn child may have hearing loss.