For the past 3 years, doctoral students at Auburn University at Montgomery have traveled to Guatemala, led by AU audiologist Sandra Clark Lewis to provide hearing screenings, follow-up testing, and hearing aids to children who otherwise have no way to afford these services. More than 1,500 Guatemalan children have been screened and those identified with educationally significant hearing loss are fitted with hearing aids donated by the GN ReSound Corporation.
Monthly Archives: July 2011
Link: http://www.wsfa.com/story/15083485/aum-speech-and-hearing-clinic-to-provide-remote-audiology-testing-to-guatemalan-children
Education Official to Speak at Conference Offering New Strategies for Helping Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Listen and Talk
Melody Musgrove, director of the Office of Special Education Programs for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) will present a keynote address to more than 400 professionals serving children with hearing loss and their families at the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Conference from July 21-23, 2011 in Washington D.C. Musgrove will provide an update on federal education initiatives for children with disabilities and highlight the federal education agenda as it pertains to special education, early intervention, and school-age services, among other things.
Link: http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/2077284/top_education_official_to_speak_at_conference_offering_new_strategies/
Advisory Panel Examines Cochlear Implant Coverage
An advisory panel to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Coverage (CMS) has concluded its findings as to the effectiveness of cochlear implants in improving health outcomes for individuals with a hearing loss. CMS, who is the
administrative organization that oversees the approval and distribution
of Medicare funds, will be reviewing these findings to consider expanding Medicare’s coverage of cochlear implantation. The current Medicare coverage for cochlear implants is limited to unilateral implantation for “individuals who demonstrate limited benefit from amplification” as stipulated by Medicare protocols. However, some of the panel’s findings are encouraging more consideration be given for CMS to grant Medicare coverage of bilateral implants as well.
Link: http://www.asha.org/Publications/leader/2011/110705/Advisory-Panel-Examines-Cochlear-Implant-Coverage.htm
Insurance companies required to cover chidren's hearing aids
Governor Haslam has signed a new law to take effect on January 1, 2012 that will require insurance companies in Tennessee to provide coverage for hearing aids for children under the age of 18. The new law mandates hearing aid coverage for children up to $1,000 per hearing aid, every three years.
Link: http://www.wbir.com/news/article/175537/2/Insurance-companies-required-to-cover-chidrens-hearing-aids
June's EHDI Email Express
Read this month’s edition of AAP’s EHDI E-mail Express! This is a
monthly electronic newsletter sent out for the purpose of providing
resources and current clinical and other information to those interested
in current issues facing childhood hearing detection and intervention.
Check out the helpful insights from this month’s edition!
Link: http://www.infanthearing.org/ncham_news/docs/EHDI_Email_Express_June2011.pdf
Project to explore aspects of music for cochlear implant users
Southampton University researchers are exploring ways to help deaf people, who have received a cochlear implant, get more enjoyment out of music. Music professor David Nicholls and Dr. Rachel van Besouw from the University’s Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) have secured funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in England to work with patients from the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre in this effort to improve the technology.
Link: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110624/Project-to-explore-aspects-of-music-for-cochlear-implant-users.aspx
Lawmaker may seek legislative remedy for school of deaf and blind
The Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind currently runs under the state’s centralized computer network and Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr. has raised concerns about the network’s inability to meet the specialized needs of the school, and other frustrations about the expenses of the network system. He has introduced legislation to exempt the school from this network; the school serves about 115 deaf/blind students on a campus in Staunton.