SEATTLE – A local researcher believes a simple newborn hearing test could warn parents that their child is at risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Little Aleah White was less than a day old when she went through the painless hearing test.

Little cups were placed over her ears and a series of gentle clicks was played. Most babies don't even wake up to the clicking sounds.

By detecting brain wave response, the tests find hearing deficits at birth.

The newborn hearing screens are offered at all hospitals and they're recommended to identify the estimated 12,000 infants born with hearing problems each year.

Now Dr. Daniel Rubens, an anesthesiologist at Seattle Children's Hospital, believes the hearing screens may be an indicator of SIDS.

"I'm proposing that there's an injury at birth, that this injury causes damage to the inner ear, and to other parts of the body," Rubens said.

Rubens theorizes that a long labor could harm tiny hair cells in the inner ear as placental blood reaches them under pressure. He believes the cells are crucial for regulating breathing.

"And that what they do is they transmit information to the brain stem about levels of carbon dioxide," Rubens said.

In a study of 31 Rhode Island babies who died of SIDS, Ruben found all the babies had shared the same deficit in their newborn hearing screens. In the future, babies at risk of SIDS could be identified early. 

"We're not at the point yet where we could say that any parent could come in, and their baby's born, and say 'hey I want that hearing test that's going to tell me that my baby has SIDS,'" Rubens said.

Still, Dr. Terrence Sweeney, director of neonatology at Swedish Medical Center, says parents can protect against SIDS.

"Making sure the infant sleeps on their back and not their stomach, making sure the infant is sleeping on a firm surface, not a soft yielding surface in which the face might be easily buried," Sweeney said.

They are precautions that will make new mom Ruth White sleep easier.

"I think SIDS is one of the biggest fears of any new parent," White said.

But she can cross off concerns about hearing loss. Aleah has passed her test with flying colors.

Rubens says his next step is a study in mice to learn more about the link between inner ear damage and breathing.

Keeping your infant away from cigarette smoke also reduces risk of SIDS.