USU team conducting research on infant hearing screenings
A team of researchers at Utah State University are working on a project designed to give feedback on infant hearing screenings all over the state.
The project is called the Refinement and Expansion of Utah’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Surveillance and Tracking System. Economist Linda Goetze, psychologist Karl White and family life specialist Kay Hansen are teaming up on this project. Goetze’s portion of the project is called Economic Analyze of EHDI Programs.
Goetze said she liked having the different disciplines combined.
“It’s more powerful in what it explains when different fields work together,” Goetze said.
The team is creating a survey for parents that will be ready to administer in January, Goetze said. The survey will help evaluate the costs involved with the screenings and the stress factor on parents.
The Ewer family is one of the pilot families for testing this survey, Goetze said. They have gone through it and made suggestions for clarification before it goes to a larger group.
“I don’t think a lot of people know what’s happening in the hospital. We need to make mothers and fathers be more aware of the testing,” Ewer said.
About four years ago, Stephanie Ewer was more than a little worried when her newborn son, Hayden, didn’t pass the mandatory hearing screening for infants.
“With the hospital, it was very stressful, and they were very casual about it. I didn’t want to wait two months for answers. I wanted more information and couldn’t get it,” Ewer said.
After a second test in the Logan Regional Hospital and another by an audiologist, Hayden was diagnosed with having a hearing loss in both ears, Ewer said.
“It was expensive but worth it,” Ewer said.
Three years later, the Ewers had their second child named Easton, who also has a hearing loss in one ear.
“It’s improved over three years. Before, they didn’t really talk to you about it or explain it,” Ewer said.
The purpose of the hearing screens is to help those who are diagnosed get early intervention, Goetze said. Without early detection, it might be years before parents see the problem.
“They’re trying to prevent the loss of language and social skills. With young children, their skills are very interrelated. The belief is that if you catch it at birth and provide intervention early you can prevent delays in key areas of child functioning,” Goetze said.
“My kids have really progressed. They wouldn’t be where they are if we didn’t have early detection. With Hayden, you wouldn’t even know he has a hearing loss. He wouldn’t be speaking now if it hadn’t been early detected.”
The initial screening is done by placing the infant in a soundproof area. A probe is then placed in their ears one at a time, Goetze said. The baby’s responses are recorded by a computer.
Infants may fail this first test if they have debris in the ear channel, Goetze said. They’re usually screened three to four times before leaving the hospital. For 2000, in the Logan Regional Hospital, about 24,000 infants were tested, which is 99.9 percent of those born. Only about 10 to 12 babies were referred for out-patient testing.
Similar tests have become mandatory or are recommended in 32 states, Goetze said.
Goetze is working on evaluating the costs at all levels with the hospital, their staff and parents, she said.
The state had made an initial screening mandatory for all newborns, Goetze said. This cost goes to taxpayers.
In the Ewer’s case, after the first test, they had to pay for everything themselves, Ewer said.
Goetze is also evaluating these costs and additional costs for time lost in work caring for a child with special needs and in transportation for some, she said.
“Our goal is to support families return to normal family routines. That’s part of early intervention,” Goetze said.
She said they’re trying to find an efficient system to have the most positive effects on kids and families.
“If we can improve things for families while making it cost less for taxpayers, we’ve done a good job,” Goetze said.
“Our goal is truth really,” she said. “To describe costs accurately for what they are.”
When finished, the survey will be given to 35 families whose children failed the first test but don’t have hearing losses, 35 who failed both but don’t have a loss and 50 who were diagnosed with a loss, Goetze said. They’ve had to create three different surveys for these groups.
“More people need to know about it. Information needs to be more wide spread. This survey is a good thing for public awareness,” Ewer said.