Hearing Aid Loan Bank Project leader: Richard Harward Members: Andrew Cobabe, Teresa Garcia, Sachin Pavithran, Robert Robinson

Background infants with confirmed hearing loss should receive appropriate intervention by six months of age initial costs of appropriate amplification can be in excess of $5000 hearing aids are not a covered expense by many insurance companies TG

Demographics Prevalence of congenital hearing loss ◦ Varies from different sources from 1 to 6 per 1000 births An estimated 15% of children and teens have hearing loss ◦ Includes both permanent and temporary TG

The Cost of Hearing loss CDC estimates the cost for all people born in 2000 with hearing loss to be $2.1 billion (2003 dollars) ◦ 30% of these costs are direct non medical costs, including special education Infants fit with hearing aids by 6 months of age have a greater chance of starting school with skills the same as their peers with normal hearing TG

What will a Hearing Aid Bank help accomplish? Improve over all language development If the family decides to go with an oral approach, it will provide early access to sound. Provide families with a time period to help find ways to fund hearing aids. Provide opportunity to have amplification before possible cochlear implant Provide amplification while solving other medical problems

Professional Views One thought for this project was “ what is the view of pediatric audiologists” What is the need for a loan bank? What type of hearing aids are needed. ◦ Are most of the children that would qualify for the use of a loan bank, present with a mild, moderate, or severe hearing loss? ◦ How do we understand the need for a loan bank?  Poll the professionals

Survey Main points of the survey ◦ Do you as professional have hearing aids that you loan low income families? ◦ How great is the need for a loan bank? ◦ If a loan bank was created would you use it? ◦ How long would these children need to have access to a loaner hearing aid? ◦ What types of hearing aids are needed? Low or high end.

How it works Centralized location ◦ Department of health services ◦ Reasons why a university or a Pediatricians office might not be best. ◦ Central to multiple facilities that provide services for CSHCN. ◦ Easy contact for pediatric audiologist. Logistics ◦ Who covers the fitting and the ear molds ◦ The aids will be loaned for three to six months depending on need ◦ Aides will be loaned with a minimal or no fee depending on families financial needs ◦ Application process to determine eligibility. ◦ Resources to get own aids (work with their audiologist) Staffing needs ◦ Staff person to process application. ◦ Staff person that determines who meets eligibility. ◦ Staff to keep track of loaned out equipment. ◦ Follow up with borrowers. ◦ Who determines loan extension?

Questions and goals for the future ◦ Awareness for audiologist (use of flier or pamphlets need to be developed) ◦ How to get additional funding to get more hearing aids available ◦ Is it a possibility to work with insurance companies for additional hearing devices such as bone conditionals and cochlear implant receiver? ◦ Working with the manufacturer is also an option

 Hearing aids  Multiple manufacturers?  Match audiologist requests  How many  Tracking  Education/training materials for audiologists  FM systems  Match audiologist requests  Alternative communication devices  Cochlear implant assistance  Bundled services: children require a large amount of attention in ensuring appropriate amplification  Ongoing evaluation: will require designing, conducting, and analyzing surveys of parents and audiologists  A hearing aid is only part of the solution: family needs to be enrolled in early intervention and have a good audiologist InventoryPotential obstacles

Sustainability Purchase newer/appropriate technology in years ahead Location and access Getting the word out Grants and donations Accountability (parents and audiologists)

URLEND Reflections