Keywords: congenital rubella, hearing loss

Abstract: A retrospective study was carried out on 48 patients with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), 68,75% of them females, seen at the University Hospital, USP, from January to December 1994. Hearing was evaluated in 60,41% of cases, and 89,66% of them were found to have deep bilateral deafness. Among the cases with hearing alterations, rubella had occurred the first trimester of gestation; 74,19% of the children had a diagnosis of CRS before one year of age and 67,74% of them were submetted to hearing evaluation later. The authors discuss the need for early hearing evaluation in suspected and confirmed cases of newborns with CRS.