Science/Medical
Oren Miron
USA
Description
Autism detection at Birth using a brain test that already screens hearing impairment on 4,000,000 newborns a year
Autism hurts millions of children because it is diagnosed too late for effective treatment (after age 4 years). I developed in Harvard Medical School a brain test that detects autism at birth, to allow earlier and better treatment (Miron et al 2015). The test is based on an existing brain test called the Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR), which screens hearing impairment on 4,000,000 newborns a year. Adding my autism test to these 4,000,000 hearing test can allow early treatment, which drastically reduces autism severity. This could reduce the autism cost for the economy, which in the U.S. alone is estimated at $125B/year , and help millions of children with autism lead a happier life.