Objective To compare the pass rates of two primary hearing screening times and to determine the appropriate screening time.Methods The newborns born in 2004 and 2005 at our hospital were divided into two groups: group A and group B.Group A received hearing screening with distortion product otoacoustic emission(DPOAE) on the 3rd day after birth,while group B screened in one month after birth.The newborns who failed the initial screening were rescreened one month later.The babies with positive screening findings were referred to full auditory assessments.Results Group A(n=2 305) had pass rate 81.9% at the initial screening and 85.2% at rescreening.Group B(n=1 348) had pass rate 93.9%(?2=103.99,P