Jihovana Sandoval-Salas is a 1-year-old girl who is all smiles and bright, brown eyes, but six months ago her mother grew concerned because she was much quieter than most infants. A hearing screening through Early Head Start in Columbus started unraveling the mystery. The girl's doctors believed she could have a hearing loss that was affecting her speech development. This article highlights the importance of periodic hearing screening for children after the newborn period.

A new resource will allow the Family Resource Agency to more accurately test the hearing of students in the Early Head Start program. Otoacoustic Emission hearing detection equipment was given to Head Starts across the state of Ohio after Head Start state director Janet Coscarelli received a grant from the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management.

Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs (CYSHCNs) account for almost 1 in 5 children in the United States. NICHQ is pleased to present new toolkits to help providers and families better support their care and help develop community-based systems that address their needs. While these toolkits focus on children with hearing loss or epilepsy, many of the tools and tips are relevant for all CYSHCNs.

Some deaf people choose implants, but others remain wary. Where are you in this debate? The story of two teenagers who chose not to have implants has generated a good discussion, many are divided on the issue but this article highlights comments from people on both sides and certainly helps in bringing the discussion to the forefront. 

Hear the World, a global initiative to build awareness about the importance of good hearing by leading Swiss hearing instrument manufacturer Phonak, announced the results of its "Hearing is Living" study, illustrating the connection between good hearing health and good self-esteem. Investing in your hearing health is worth every penny and has self-esteem benefits. The "Hearing is Living" study surveyed more than 4,300 people in the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland and Great Britain to examine the significance of hearing on a person's quality of life.

Swedish researchers have found that antioxidants can prevent against hearing loss if one has been exposed to loud noises. In the search for methods to protect one's hearing after noise exposure, Swedish researchers found that antioxidant acetylcysteine has a protective effect on noise-related hearing loss.

Music is so present in many of our lives, it's easy to take for granted. For a group of Twin Cities youngsters, it’s not that simple. Students from Northern Voices, a school for children with hearing loss, got a chance to experience music Friday on one of Minnesota’s biggest stages, Orchestra Hall. Watch the news story on video of the fun experience these children had; the program the students attended was put on by the Minnesota Orchestra’s Volunteer Association.

Researchers have been given the go-ahead to test stem cells from cord blood with the ultimate goal of reversing hearing loss in infants and toddlers whose inner ears have been damaged. U.S. regulators have approved the Phase I study, which has a primary objective of determining the safety of the experimental stem cell therapy. The therapy involves transfusing a baby's own stem cells from umbilical cord blood, banked by parents after their child's birth. Ten children aged six weeks to 18 months old with sensorineural hearing loss will be recruited for the study by doctors at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

When Issy Cairns was just four weeks old, her parents were told she was profoundly deaf. Cricket legend Chris Cairns and his wife were devastated but determined to do what they could for their daughter. This is a story of how cochlear implants have changed one little girl's life. Watch the video.

The scholarship is open to all high school seniors, nationally, who presently wear hearing aids or will benefit from one. Students will write an essay centered on the experiences and challenges they face in all phases of life as a person with a hearing impairment. The winning student will receive $500.00 towards the college of their choice and two state of the art Resound hearing aids. The hearing aids are being donated by Resound, a manufacturer of high quality digital hearing aids.

Hearing loss has become the 3rd most common health problem in the US. 79% have difficulty hearing or know somebody who has. 36 million Americans suffer from some kind of hearing loss, with only a quarter of these people recognizing that they have a problem and seeking treatment.

The Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has updated its Medicaid Benefits Online Database to include 2010 state-level data about which benefits are covered by Medicaid programs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and United States territories. The online tool contains Medicaid benefits data for adults covered under fee-for-service, with information about benefits covered, limits, co-payments and reimbursement methodologies.

The Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) has developed a Dispute Resolution Resource Showcase – a collection and systematic organization of resources relating to the IDEA’s dispute resolution procedural safeguards provisions (Part C and Part B) that may be useful to states and districts as they pursue improvements in their special education dispute resolution systems and processes.

Many types of hearing aids exist. So which is best for you? Find out what the Mayo Clinic suggests for consideration when choosing a hearing aid.

A European team of researchers has discovered that people with a specific form of inherited hearing loss are more sensitive to low frequency vibration. Presented in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the findings provide insight on the association between hearing loss and touch sensitivity. Specialised skin cells must be tuned to enable a person to 'feel'.
A mutation affecting the function of many hair cells in the inner ear is responsible for this hearing impairment.

A report published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Irish children born with hearing problems can wait up to five years to have hearing aids fitted because of serious shortages in audiology services.

Again this year we have incredible nominations for the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EDHI Excellence! Read about their many accomplishments at Maxon Award.

 

While you are being amazed at what these people have done to strengthen EHDI programs across the country and around the world, be sure to register for the National EHDI meeting to be held in St. Louis March 4-6, 2012. This promises to be the biggest and best EHDI Meeting ever.

Early Registration ends today, so don't delay.  Register today and save $50!

The February Edition of Probes and Tips is now available: Check that Hearing Aids are Working. This edition includes such items as:

• Common maintenance issues for hearing aids including checking/changing the battery, cleaning blockage, etc.
• Learn more Hear and Now: Introduction to OAE Screening; Registration
• Information about an ECHO Initiative Exhibit in Washington DC, Feb. 11-14, 2012

Deaf children who already had one cochlear implant had improvements in speech, hearing and related quality of life measures after a second was implanted in the other ear, according to researchers from the Netherlands. And the degree of improvement didn't depend on how old kids were when they got their second implant, according to the study, published in the Archives of Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery.

HB218 "A Deaf Child's Bill of Rights" was referred from the House Education Committee to Appropriations where it may languish and die unless concerned citizens for an appropriate education for all Virginia's children get involved. This is an important and timely bill given the state of education of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the Virginia.