Fisher Garver is just like one of the three million other children under
18 who are living with some form of hearing loss. Doctors are now
working to identify and treat hearing loss in infants. There are a number of risk factors which could
put a child’s hearing in jeopardy. Those inlcude infants born
prematurely, anyone with a family history of hearing loss or babies who
suffered a prenatal infection they shared with their mother while in the
womb. That was exactly what Fisher’s mother faced, sensing very early
on that something was wrong.
Link: http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-doctors-work-to-identify-treat-hearing-loss-in-young-children-20120509,0,297181.column
Picture Book Centers On Girl With Hearing Loss
According to the March of Dimes, about 12,000 babies with hearing loss
are born in the U.S. each year, making it one of the most common birth
defects. Kids can also lose their hearing due to illness. Wendy Kupfer’s
new picture book, Let’s Hear It For Almigal, is the story of a happy
little girl who feels unlucky because she can’t hear everything she
wants to hear. Endearing, lighthearted and informative, the book can be
enjoyed by children with and without hearing loss. It comes just in time
for Better Hearing and Speech Month in May.
Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/picture-book-centers-on-girl-with-hearing-loss-one-of-americas-most-common-birth-defects-2012-05-08
AG Bell Launches the Listening and Spoken Language Knowledge Center
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing launched the Listening and Spoken Language Knowledge Center,
the essential Internet resource for parents of children with hearing
loss, individuals with hearing loss and professionals who serve them. Content on the Knowledge Center will be focused on guiding parents
through the stages that their children will experience as they grow up
with hearing loss.
Link: http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/AG-Bell-Launches-the-Listening-and-Spoken-3544840.php#ixzz1uOGgA355
Teaching a Deaf Child Her Mothers Tongue
Most babies are born into the culture and community of their
families. If the family is Latino or Tatar or Han Chinese, so is the
baby. The baby learns the family’s language — “the mother tongue.”
Culture and language are passed down from parents to child. Except when the child is born deaf. Most parents simply whisper and coo to their children in their native
tongues. We had to decide — and quickly — what our daughters’ native
tongue would be. Should we try to get our daughters access to spoken
language through hearing technology, or to immerse them (and ourselves)
in American Sign Language, or to try to do both? Read this story from a mother’s perspective of raising two deaf daughters and the choices they made as parents.
Link: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/teaching-a-deaf-child-her-mothers-tongue/
For Hard of Hearing, Clarity Out of the Din
DIGITAL hearing aids can do wonders for faded hearing. But other devices
can help, too, as audio technology adds new options to help people
converse at a noisy restaurant, or talk quietly with a pharmacist at a
crowded drugstore counter. Read about
how technology is helping Richard Einhorn, a composer who suddenly lost
much of his hearing two years ago. He pops on a pair of in-ear earphones
and snaps a directional mike on his iPhone, which has an app to amplify
and process sound.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/technology/audio-devices-give-new-options-to-those-hard-of-hearing.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=general
The May edition of Probes and Tips is now available
The May Edition of Probes and Tips is now available:
Share Hearing Screening Results with Your State Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Program:
Spotlight on Florida and Indiana
This edition includes such items as:
- CDC stats on newborns in the U.S. not passing or not receiving the newborn hearing screening
- The difference some early Head Start programs are making in Florida
- Partnership efforts between the EHS of Carey Services and Indiana State EHDI
Link: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs073/1102782899287/archive/1109869106239.html
Researchers Begin First Ever Study of Stem Cells to Treat Hearing Loss
The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a groundbreaking trial
to evaluate the safety of using a child’s own cord-blood stem cells to
regenerate cells in the inner ear—and potentially restore the child’s
hearing. The year-long Phase 1 study, which began on Jan. 10, will
follow 10 children who have a moderate to profound unilateral or
bilateral hearing loss.
Link: http://www.asha.org/Publications/leader/2012/120424/Regenerating-Hearing--Researchers-Begin-First-Ever-Study-of-Stem-Cells-to-Treat-Hearing-Loss.htm
Funding for hearing impaired kids in Ontario lacking
When Caroline Viney found out her seven-year-old daughter’s hearing was
in decline, she was shocked. Diagnosed in kindergarten, doctors couldn’t
figure out the reason behind the sudden loss. It can cost parents in
Ontario thousands of dollars just to
keep their children learning on the same playing field as their peers.
Auditory verbal therapy, tutors and hearing tools are expensive, leaving
some parents scrambling to keep up with never-ending costs. On top of
that, a lack of dedicated staff in schools to address issues
hearing-impaired children face makes Viney’s job, and others like her,
that much tougher.
Link: http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/157014/funding-for-hearing-impaired-kids-in-ontario-lacking-advocates/
Hearing and Touch Have Common Genetic Basis (Gene mutation leads to impairment of two senses)
People with good hearing also have a keen sense of touch; people with
impaired hearing generally have an impaired sense of touch. Extensive
data supporting this hypothesis was presented by Dr. Henning Frenzel and
Professor Gary R. Lewin of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular
Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany. The two researchers showed that
both senses — hearing and touch — have a common genetic basis.