The Miracle-Ear Franchise of Southeast Missouri will be hosting a
coloring contest for school children under the age of 10 to kick off their
campaign for Better Hearing Month in May. The coloring contest will
educate school children on how to practice healthy hearing in a fun
and rewarding way.
Miracle-Ear works hand in hand with the Miracle-Ear Children’s
Foundation to provide no-cost hearing aids and hearing support services
to children whose families have incomes that are significantly limited
and who are unable to afford the high costs of hearing instruments.
Miracle-Ear’s aim is to promote better hearing for children and make
hearing health a childhood priority.

Link: http://www.semissourian.com/story/1837201.html

Bringing a ray of hope for those children who are born deaf, the
department of ENT at Government Medical College & Hospital, Sector
32 has recently performed a state of the art cochlear implant surgery on
a three-year-old deaf child. Using the high-tech and safe 20 Channel
Digisonic Cochlear Implant System, the surgery was performed on the
International Ear and Hearing Care Day. After recovery, the implant
was switched-on and has responded very well.
The child is now getting speech therapy and help for cognitive development.

Link: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gmch32-docs-restore-hearing-of-child/936326/

Two video clips were recently posted to infanthearing.org that discuss the essential elements of the HIPAA security law and strategies for strengthening security, these videos are highlighted as follows and you can follow the link to view them for full details. Both presentations were made to the NCHAM tele-intervention learning community in December, 2011.

(1) Dr. Valerie Watzlaf from the Department of Health Information Management
in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at University of
Pittsburgh discusses the essential elements of the HIPAA Security Law.
She describes practical considerations for those engaged in
telepractice.

(2) Daniel Ladner, Senior Technology Systems Analyst at the National Center
for Hearing Assessment and Management delineates the strategies used to
strengthen security for Sound Beginnings’ tele-intervention project.

Link: http://www.infanthearing.org/ti-guide/privacy.html#optimal_security

A five week old named Grace swaddled in her mother’s arms at a hospital in Redding had failed two hearing tests in her first two days of life, with a follow up exam a week later indicating trouble in one ear. Evaluating her hearing within the first three months of her life was essential. If follow up tests indicated a permanent problem, she would need to be fitted with a hearing aid to have the best chance of developing normal speech and other important skills later in life. Another problem was that Grace needed a pediatric audiologist to perform the necessary tests, but they lived in a more rural area where such specialists are hard to find. Read more to learn about how tele-intervention or video conferencing technology is helping pediatric audiologists reach more children in need of these important evaluations.

Link: http://www.baycitizen.org/environmental-health/story/doctor-will-see-you-now-screen/

Montreal-For several years Dr. Hema Patel and a coalition of medical experts have
lobbied for universal screening of all newborns for hearing impairment and their efforts are starting to pay off with a government promise to test the hearing of all newborn children finally inching forward after years of planning. The procedure, which is standard in many other Canadian provinces, would help
medical authorities equip hearing-impaired newborns with hearing aids
immediately upon detection of their condition. Detection is considered urgent because every day that a young child
suffers a lack of auditory stimulus puts a roadblock to that child’s
development.

Link: http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120405/mtl_on_your_side_120405/20120405/?hub=MontrealHome

There was a time when a child born deaf had few choices. For more
than a century, the only option for parents was to send their son or
daughter away to a boarding school for the deaf. There, the children and
the schools thrived in the shadows, embracing a distinct culture of
silent communication. Recent advances in
medicine and technology are now reshaping what it means to be deaf in
America. Children who could never hear a sound are now adults who can
hear everything. That’s having a dramatic impact on the nation’s
historic deaf schools as well as the lives of people. Read more from this NPR article that highlights the dramatic changes occuring in deaf culture due to Cochlear Implantation.

Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/04/08/150245885/cochlear-implants-redefine-what-it-means-to-be-deaf

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has launched a new website that
provides resources for parents, providers and other professionals about
Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) for infants and
children. The site is www.improveehdi.org/mn. Parents of children who may develop hearing loss or who have confirmed
hearing loss will be able to learn about the EHDI process, find
materials that will guide them through identification and intervention,
and find hearing specialists and education resources in their area. In
addition, the site contains information to help link parents with family
and community resources available locally.

Minnesota’s EHDI website, www.improveehdi.org/mn,
was presented with the 2012 EHDI Website of the Year award at the
Eleventh Annual EHDI Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. All state EHDI
websites were reviewed by a panel of parents, EHDI coordinators, chapter
champions, and others to select the best website based on quality
content, user friendliness, and accessibility.

Link: http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/93514/group/News/

Today is the last day to register for the
AG Bell 2012 Convention at reduced rates. The AG Bell 2012 Convention will

offer many opportunities for attendees to meet, connect and network with each other. Don’t delay in registering and having the opportunity to save some money! 

Link: http://nc.agbell.org/page.aspx?pid=1338&srctid=1&erid=2138791&trid=f8588eb5-6426-4321-8d64-19399709c6f9

The April edition of Probes and Tips is now available

The March Edition of Probes and Tips is now available: Coordinate Rescreens with Health Care Providers. This edition includes such items as:

• Common scenarios and guidelines for when to rescreen
• Coffee break webinar info and the topic of: Coordination of Middle Ear referrals and Conducting Follow up OAE Screenings

Link: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs073/1102782899287/archive/1109565617827.html

WCCO-TV first met Andria on her second birthday, when she understood music and words only through sign language. WCCO followed back in fall of 1996 when they brought her to the
University of Iowa to receive a cochlear implant. At the time, some in
the deaf community disapproved. Opponents told the Warner family a child
should be old enough to choose the life altering procedure on their
own, but Laure and Gene (her parents) saw the tiny device as an opportunity. Andria’s first sounds were her own cries, and finally laughter. An
implant doesn’t restore normal hearing, but gave her the means to hear
her environment, and understand speech. Read more about this story to see how the follow up reveals the effect the implant has had on Andria’s life.

Link: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/04/03/15-years-later-wcco-visits-2-cochlear-implant-patients/