According to the Center for Disease Control, early detection of hearing loss in children, followed with appropriate intervention, minimizes the need for extensive habilitation during the school years. In April 2010, the Hearing and Speech Foundation began our Hope and Hearing Program, which provides auditory processing disorder evaluations, Audiological evaluations and newborn hearing screenings for children on TennCare.

The goal of this project is to identify newborns and children with hearing loss and assist them with the hearing services they need to develop speech. Over the past three years, we have provided assistance to 70 children through our hearing aid assistance program. These children have received hearing services they would otherwise go without and have been able to increase their communication skills and learning capabilities, which are crucial to their overall development.

Hearing Loss and Childhood Development
Research indicates that children with hearing loss in one ear are ten times as likely to be held back at least one grade compared to children with normal hearing. Similar academic achievement lags have been reported for children with even slight hearing loss.

Children with mild hearing loss miss 25 to 50 percent of speech in the classroom and may be inappropriately labeled as having a behavior problem. When children are not identified as having a hearing loss and do not receive early intervention, special education for a child with hearing loss can cost schools an additional $420,000 and has the lifetime cost of approximately $1 million per individual (according to the Hearing Loss Association of America).

Hearing Loss in Newborns
In the United States, approximately 1 in 1,000 newborns is born profoundly deaf and another 2 to 3 out of 1,000 babies are born with partial hearing loss, making hearing loss the number one birth defect in America. Of these babies, only about half exhibit a risk factor and from those, only 10 to 20 percent are identified with a hearing loss. When hearing loss is detected beyond the first few months of life, the most critical time for stimulating the auditory pathways to hearing centers of the brain may be lost, significantly delaying speech and language development for newborns.

Because of this crucial time period, the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing and U.S. Public Health Service’s Healthy People 2010 health objectives recommend that all newborns be screened for hearing loss by one month of age, have diagnostic follow-up by 3 months, and receive appropriate intervention services by 6 months. However, obtaining an accurate hearing test in the hospital can be difficult because infants tend to move around. If they fail the test, they are usually referred to an audiologist, which leaves the responsibility up to the parent to obtain another hearing test.

How You Can Help
Since the inception of our Hope and Hearing Program, we have provided nine children with hearing tests. Seven of those are under the age of 2 and two are older than 5 years of age. Support for this program is needed and Sunday, August 29^th, the $10 Club of Maryville will host a Summer Roundup and Hoedown to benefit the Hope and Hearing Program. Cost for the event is $20 per person and includes a BBQ buffet and entertainment from Pistol Creek. Please see the event page for more information and thank you for helping provide the Gift of Sound.

Click here for more information about our services and programs. Interested in hosting a fundraiser for HSF? Please fill out our volunteer form or email Executive Director Amanda Womac.