Guinevere Eden, D.Phil., director for the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) and her colleagues report on a new structural brain imaging study that shows, in addition to deafness, early language experience – English versus ASL – impacts brain structure. Half of the adult hearing and half of the deaf participants in the study had learned ASL as children from their deaf parents, while the other half had grown up using English with their hearing parents.
Link: http://www.science20.com/news_articles/in_deaf_people_the_language_they_learned_as_kids_affected_brain_structure-134265
Starting and Supporting Family Advisory Groups
Don’t miss this webinar opportunity for EHDI programs to get insights into strategies applicable to family advisory groups and how they can help guide EHDI programs!
Link: https://www.magnetmail.net/actions/email_web_version.cfm?recipient_id=1250518599&message_id=3942888&user_id=AAPorg&group_id=471660&jobid=17933654
Hearing Aids For Kids Could Improve Speech And Language
For young kids who are hard of hearing, the longer they wear a hearing aid, the better their speech and language skills, according to a new study.
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/09/hearing-aids-improve-kids-speech_n_5120109.html
The 2014 EHDI EBook is now available!
The 2014 EHDI E-Book – A Resource Guide for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention – is now available.
Link: http://www.infanthearing.org/ehdi-ebook/index.html
Link: http://www.infanthearing.org/ehdi-ebook/index.html
April edition of Probes and Tips is now available
Integrate Newborn Screening Results into Each Child’s Hearing Health Profile
Link: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs154/1102782899287/archive/1116947096281.html
Timeliness of Service Delivery for Children With Later Identified Mild to Severe Hearing Loss
In this study, the authors examined diagnostic and intervention services for children identified with hearing loss (HL) after the newborn period.
Link: http://aja.pubs.asha.org/Article.aspx?articleid=1802137
Sign Language Making Big Impact
Zoe Jagla was a frustrated little girl, throwing temper tantrums as she tried and failed to communicate what she wanted. Her parents searched for a sign language teacher for their severe to profoundly deaf two-year-old, but couldn’t find one until Becky Reeder and Beth Chilman came along and dedicated two to three days a week to teach her American Sign Language.
Link: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/sign-language-making-big-impact/article_0f8331d7-90f2-5c33-a68b-41dd4382d6dc.html
State and Territory EHDI Databases
What We Do and Don’t Know About the Hearing or Audiological Data From Identified Children – The purpose of this study was to define the information currently collected by state and territory Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) coordinators and to determine whether best practice guidelines are used.
Link: http://aja.pubs.asha.org/Article.aspx?articleid=1809032
Link: http://aja.pubs.asha.org/Article.aspx?articleid=1809032
Gene therapy to address progressive hearing loss
Using DNA as a drug — commonly called gene therapy — in laboratory mice may protect the inner ear nerve cells of humans suffering from certain types of progressive hearing loss, researchers have discovered. While the research is in its early stages, it has the potential to lead to a cure for some varieties of deafness.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140324111918.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain%2Fhearing_loss+%28Hearing+Loss+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
Preschool Hearing Screenings: A Comparison of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission and Pure Tone Protocols
From the Journal of Educational Audiology vol. 19, 2013 – Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) are sensitive to both sensorineural and conductive hearing losses and have the potential to be used as an effective screening measure across all populations, including children. DPOAE offer a quick and straightforward hearing screening technique for the pediatric population that is not influenced by subjective testing and is highly reproducible. In this study, the mean test times and pass/fail rates from 198 preschool participants were compared between two DPOAE screening protocols (1-5 kHz and 2-5 kHz) and a pure-tone screening protocol (1, 2 and 4 kHz). Significantly less time was needed to conduct the DPOAE screenings compared to the pure-tone screenings. Results suggested similar pass/fail rates for both DPOAE protocols compared to pure-tone screenings. Without diagnostic audiologic test results, the sensitivity and specificity of the screening protocols could not be determined. Until the true sensitivity and specificity of DPOAE and pure-tone screening protocols can be determined, it is recommended that clinicians consider adding DPOAE to their current screening protocol, or at least having DPOAE available to screen children who cannot or will not participate in pure-tone screenings.