Benefits of Early Hearing Detection & Intervention

· Infants identified with hearing loss can be fit with amplification by as young as 4 weeks of age.  With appropriate early intervention, children with hearing loss can be mainstreamed in regular elementary and secondary education classrooms.  Recent research has concluded that children born with a hearing loss who are identified and given appropriate intervention before 6 months of age demonstrated significantly better speech and reading comprehension than children identified after 6 months of age. 

· Even mild hearing loss can significantly interfere with the reception of spoken language and education performance. Research indicates that children with unilateral hearing loss (in one ear) are ten times as likely to be held back at least one grade compared to children with normal hearing.   Similar academic achievement lags have been reported for children with even slight hearing loss. Children with mild hearing loss miss 25-50% of speech in the classroom and may be inappropriately labeled as having a behavior problem.

· Recent clinical studies indicate that early detection of hearing loss followed with appropriate intervention minimizes the need for extensive habilitation during the school years and therefore reduces the burden on the IDEA Part B program.     In contrast, a 30-year Gallaudet study revealed that half of the children with hearing loss graduate from high school with a 4^th grade reading level or less.