Babies of low or very low birth weight (VLBW), many of whom are also small for gestational age, are at increased risk for auditory and visual impairment including sensorineural hearing loss and deficits in visual acuity, color vision, and contrast sensitivity. In addition, long-term alterations in retinal function, subtle deficits in neural conduction in visual or auditory pathways, and a reduction in the startle response, which is thought to indicate the ability of the CNS to filter out extraneous stimuli, have all been demonstrated.