1. The Status of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention in the United States

2. Blindness separates people from things.
Deafness separates people from people.
--- Helen Keller

3. Improvements in Hearing Screening Equipment

4. Number of Hospitals Doing Universal Newborn Hearing Screening
Number of Programs

5. Endorsements for Universal Newborn Screening
National Institutes of Health
American Academy of Pediatrics
Maternal and Child Health Bureau
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Joint Committee on Infant Hearing
American Academy of Audiology
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
National Association of the Deaf

6. Why is Early Identification of Hearing Loss so Important?
Hearing loss is the most frequent birth defect.

7. Rate Per 1000 of Permanent Childhood Hearing Loss in UNHS Programs
Sample Prevalence
Site Size Per 1000
Rhode Island (3/93 - 6/94) 16,
Colorado (1/ /96) 41,
New York (1/ /97) 69,
Texas (1/94 - 6/97) ,
Hawaii (1/ /96) 9,
New Jersey (1/ /95) 15,

8. Incidence per 10,000 of Congenital Defects/Diseases

9. Why is Early Identification of Hearing Loss so Important?
Hearing loss is the most frequent birth defect.
Undetected hearing loss has serious negative consequences.

10. Reading Comprehension Scores of Hearing and Deaf Students
Grade Equivalents
Age in Years
Schildroth, A. N., & Karchmer, M. A. (1986). Deaf children in America, San Diego: College Hill Press.

11. Effects of Unilateral Hearing Loss
Normal Hearing
Unilateral Hearing Loss
Keller & Bundy (1980)
Math
(n = 26; age = 12 yrs)
Language
Peterson (1981)
Math
(n = 48; age = 7.5 yrs)
Language
Bess & Thorpe (1984)
Social
(n = 50; age = 10 yrs)
Math
Blair, Peterson & Viehweg (1985)
(n = 16; age = 7.5 yrs)
Language
Math
Culbertson & Gilbert (1986)
(n = 50; age = 10 yrs)
Language
Social
Average Results
0th
10th
20th
30th
40th
50th
60th
Math = 30th percentile
Percentile Rank
Language = 25th percentile
Social = 32nd percentile

12. Why is Early Identification of Hearing Loss so Important?
Hearing loss is the most frequent birth defect.
Undetected hearing loss has serious negative consequences.
There are dramatic benefits associated with early identification of hearing loss.

13. Boys Town National Research Hospital Study of Earlier vs. Later)
129 deaf and hard-of-hearing children assessed 2x each year. )
Assessments done by trained diagnostician as normal part of early intervention program. 6
Identified <6 mos (n = 25) 5
Identified >6 mos (n = 104) 4
Language Age (yrs) 3 2 1
0.8
1.2
1.8
2.2
2.8
3.2
3.8
4.2
4.8
Age (yrs)
Moeller, M.P. (1997).
Personal communication ,

14. Tremendous Progress During the Last Decade
Less than 30 hospitals with UNHS in 1993; compared with more than 2000 today
More than 2 million babies are screened every year prior to discharge
34 states have passed legislation related to newborn hearing screening

15. The Other Side of the Coin . . . .
2,200 hospitals are not yet screening for hearing loss
Almost 2 million babies are NOT screened every year prior to discharge
Existing legislation is of variable quality
Only 9 states (accounting for 7% of the births) have implemented reasonable statewide programs
Follow-up rates are often alarmingly low
Some hospitals have unacceptably high referral rates

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Implementing Effective EHDI Programs
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Start
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17. Status of EHDI Programs in the United States
Universal Newborn Hearing Screening
Effective Tracking and Follow-up as a part of the Public Health System
Appropriate and Timely Diagnosis of the Hearing Loss
Prompt Enrollment in Appropriate Early Intervention
A Medical Home for all Newborns
Culturally Competent Family Support
Elimination of geographic and financial barriers to service access

18. Goal of Workshop As a result of this workshop, participants will:
Develop a plan for implementing an effective statewide UNSHI program
Outline the contents of the grant application to be submitted June 15th
Understand how grant applications will be reviewed so that critical components can be included

19. Resources are available to help