For researchers and clinicians in developing contexts like South Africa, the establishment of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) programmes is something which we have strived to achieve. However, we need to ask the question as to whether we have attempted to view our ultimate goal of achieving mandated UNHS programmes from the perspective of the South African healthcare system as a whole. The current manuscript is aimed at providing an overview of audiological services within a broader context, with reflections from a South African perspective, and a suggestion to consider alternatives to UNHS, particularly in the South African public health care sector.
Keywords: early hearing detection; reflections.