Audiologists are devoted to helping people hear better, so it will likely come as a shock to learn that some parents prefer that their babies be born deaf. So-called designer deafness is the idea behind conceiving a deaf child via preimplantation genetic diagnosis or by selecting a sperm or egg donor with a strong family history of deafness. Read this article to learn more.

Learn about the role of telehealth in meeting the needs of persons with hearing loss by reading: Connecting to Communicate: Using Telepractice to Improve Outcomes for Children and Adults With Hearing Loss by K. Todd Houston, PhD, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT (The University of Akron )

The Association for Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) has created  a fact sheet about budget sequestration and the impact this will have on the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant and other MCH funding. Click here for a copy. This fact sheet covers a series of questions and answers detailing what sequestration means, the expected percentage cut set to take place Jan. 2, 2013 under current law, exempt programs and other additional information. 

In recognition of May as Better Hearing and Speech Month, the National Institute for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) has developed a diagram to illustrate how infants are lost in the hearing screening process. Every year, US hospitals test the hearing of millions of babies, some 60,000 of whom do not pass an initial hearing test. Of those, roughly half have no state record of receiving follow-up care or services.

How do you find the best hearing aid for you? Consult your ear professional! One question we often receive here at Healthy Hearing is, “Where can I find reliable hearing aid reviews?” The answer to this question isn’t easy. Because hearing aids are electronic devices, many people expect to be able to review their various features and select the best one – much like researching a television or cell phone purchase. To learn more about the reliability of hearing aid reviews, read more.

Former US Olympian Jim Ryun set the record for the mile as a high school junior, competed in three US Olympics and held a seat in Congress from 1996-2007. Now he's partnered with Hear the World and Special Olympics to set another record: the overall number of people in the US who take care of their hearing health.

Regenerating sensory hair cells could form the basis for treating age- or trauma-related hearing loss. One way to do this could be with gene therapy that drives new sensory hair cells to grow. Researchers have shown that introducing a gene called Atoh1 into the cochleae of young mice can induce the formation of extra sensory hair cells.

Being told their beautiful baby is deaf plunged Paul and Ruth Neesham into a frightening world. In Deaf Awareness Week, this Sunderland couple are doing their utmost to inspire others. They struggled to take in the crippling news that hit them like a sledgehammer. It was heartbreaking and Ruth recalls how hearing a song or a piece of music and she would break down at the thought that Jack would never hear such beautiful sounds. Read more about what these parents are doing to inspire others.

Most parents have not discussed hearing loss with their teens, an US poll shows, although one in six adolescents has high-frequency hearing loss.

Research into hearing loss after exposure to loud noises could lead to the first drug treatments to prevent the development of tinnitus.

In case you haven't heard, the EHDI E-mail Express is a monthly e-newsletter from the American Academy of Pediatrics' "Improving the Effectiveness of Newborn Hearing Screening, Diagnosis and Intervention through the Medical Home project." It is designed to provide AAP EHDI Chapter Champions and EHDI stakeholders with resources and current clinical and other relevant information. Contact Faiza Khan, if you would like to subscribe.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD) 1 in every 350 infants is born with a significant hearing loss. Hearing loss occurs more often than any other medical condition for which newborn screening is available. To date, no treatment is available to reverse or repair an acquired sensorineural hearing loss. Recently, the FDA approved the first Phase I trial that will evaluate the safety of using a child’s own cord blood stem cells to regenerate cells in the inner ear and potentially restore a child’s hearing.

Fisher Garver is just like one of the three million other children under 18 who are living with some form of hearing loss. Doctors are now working to identify and treat hearing loss in infants. There are a number of risk factors which could put a child's hearing in jeopardy. Those inlcude infants born prematurely, anyone with a family history of hearing loss or babies who suffered a prenatal infection they shared with their mother while in the womb. That was exactly what Fisher's mother faced, sensing very early on that something was wrong.

According to the March of Dimes, about 12,000 babies with hearing loss are born in the U.S. each year, making it one of the most common birth defects. Kids can also lose their hearing due to illness. Wendy Kupfer's new picture book, Let's Hear It For Almigal, is the story of a happy little girl who feels unlucky because she can't hear everything she wants to hear. Endearing, lighthearted and informative, the book can be enjoyed by children with and without hearing loss. It comes just in time for Better Hearing and Speech Month in May.

The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing launched the Listening and Spoken Language Knowledge Center, the essential Internet resource for parents of children with hearing loss, individuals with hearing loss and professionals who serve them. Content on the Knowledge Center will be focused on guiding parents through the stages that their children will experience as they grow up with hearing loss.

Most babies are born into the culture and community of their families. If the family is Latino or Tatar or Han Chinese, so is the baby. The baby learns the family’s language — “the mother tongue.” Culture and language are passed down from parents to child. Except when the child is born deaf. Most parents simply whisper and coo to their children in their native tongues. We had to decide — and quickly — what our daughters’ native tongue would be. Should we try to get our daughters access to spoken language through hearing technology, or to immerse them (and ourselves) in American Sign Language, or to try to do both? Read this story from a mother's perspective of raising two deaf daughters and the choices they made as parents.

DIGITAL hearing aids can do wonders for faded hearing. But other devices can help, too, as audio technology adds new options to help people converse at a noisy restaurant, or talk quietly with a pharmacist at a crowded drugstore counter. Read about how technology is helping Richard Einhorn, a composer who suddenly lost much of his hearing two years ago. He pops on a pair of in-ear earphones and snaps a directional mike on his iPhone, which has an app to amplify and process sound.

The May Edition of Probes and Tips is now available:

Share Hearing Screening Results with Your State Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Program:

Spotlight on Florida and Indiana

This edition includes such items as:

• CDC stats on newborns in the U.S. not passing or not receiving the newborn hearing screening
  
• The difference some early Head Start programs are making in Florida
  
• Partnership efforts between the EHS of Carey Services and Indiana State EHDI
  

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a groundbreaking trial to evaluate the safety of using a child's own cord-blood stem cells to regenerate cells in the inner ear—and potentially restore the child's hearing. The year-long Phase 1 study, which began on Jan. 10, will follow 10 children who have a moderate to profound unilateral or bilateral hearing loss.

When Caroline Viney found out her seven-year-old daughter’s hearing was in decline, she was shocked. Diagnosed in kindergarten, doctors couldn’t figure out the reason behind the sudden loss. It can cost parents in Ontario thousands of dollars just to keep their children learning on the same playing field as their peers. Auditory verbal therapy, tutors and hearing tools are expensive, leaving some parents scrambling to keep up with never-ending costs. On top of that, a lack of dedicated staff in schools to address issues hearing-impaired children face makes Viney’s job, and others like her, that much tougher.