At the time of their discharge from a tertiary intensive care nursery, 890 babies were screened for hearing loss by the auditory brain stem response method. Of those who failed (N = 141), 43% were retested within a year; of those then found by auditory brain stem response to suffer binaural hearing loss (N = 331, 16 now wear hearing aids. We conclude that at least 10% of such babies, all of whom are by definition at risk for hearing loss, may leave the hospital with reduced sensitivity in one or both ears which, for at least 2%, is so severe that hearing aids may be necessary to optimize language and psychosocial development.