Media Briefing on Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Legislation and Funding

(ROCKVILLE, MD-2001) United States House members James Walsh (R-NY), Lois Capps (D-CA) and Jim Ryun (R-KS) will announce new grants to states and speak regarding the impact of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) legislation during a media briefing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, March 15, at 9:45 a.m. The members of Congress will also address the need for continued funding under the Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 1999 to allow a higher percentage of newborns to be screened and receive appropriate follow-up intervention services for hearing loss. The briefing will take place at the House Media Triangle and will be moderated by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) President John Bernthal, Ph.D., CCC-A/SLP.

The Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 1999 enables up to three years of federal funding for state grants to develop infant hearing screening and intervention programs through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). HRSA will be awarding additional grants for EHDI programs as well as renewing grants for the 22 states that received funding from the agency in 00.

Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia currently have EHDI statutes (up from 12 states at the end of 1998), with new program legislation proposed in six additional states (Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Tennessee). Another five states (Arizona, Delaware, New Mexico, Iowa and Idaho) have adopted voluntary compliance approaches resulting in at least 80% of all newborns being screened for hearing loss.

ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 99,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders.