Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Legislation

Before recent grassroots initiatives to mandate infant hearing screening, the average age for detection of hearing loss among children was 2.5 years. A great deal of development takes place in those first years of life, and 2.5 years was just too long to wait before initiating detection and intervention.

ASHA has fought for legislation to provide early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) funding and has provided model legislation for members' use at the state level. The newborn hearing screening pages  on ASHA' s Web site ensure that members and the public have the latest information, and members and staff have had great success encouraging newspapers, television, radio, and magazines to cover the issue. Since last year, PBS' HealthWeek, NBC Nightly News, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Child magazine , Parents magazine , and scores of regional dailies have all covered newborn hearing screening.

Legislative momentum continues to build on the issue of EHDI, and public awareness is growing about the impact of hearing loss. It's the stories of the children--real life examples that cut through all the discussion and debate--that remind us why this issue is such a priority.

Audiologist Lynn Spivak, who oversees the screening of more than 22,000 infants per year at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, spoke to national news media. She said that after confirmation of an infant' s hearing loss, the child can be fitted with a hearing aid at 3 months of age. "By helping the ear hear properly," Spivak added, "the baby will be feeding the auditory brainstem with the sounds and information it needs for the child to grow and learn--and that learning starts at birth."

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