Jane Madell

Jane Madell, PhD, has a consulting practice in pediatric audiology. She is an audiologist, speech-language pathologist, and LSLS auditory verbal therapist, with a BA from Emerson College and an MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin. Her 45+ years experience ranges from Deaf Nursery programs to positions at the League for the Hard of Hearing (Director), Long Island College Hospital, Downstate Medical Center, Beth Israel Medical Center/New York Eye and Ear Infirmary as director of the Hearing and Learning Center and Cochlear Implant Center. Jane has taught at the University of Tennessee, Columbia University, Downstate Medical School, and Albert Einstein Medical School, published 7 books, and written numerous books chapters and journal articles, and is a well known international lecturer.

Personal or Soundfield FM’s

Australian Hearing, the organization that provides support to children and adults with hearing loss in Australia, has just written a document comparing the benefits of different types of FM systems. This is really important information to use in deciding what kind of FM system to recommend for a child. Research has clearly demonstrated that children with normal hearing benefit significantly

Checking Vision for Children with Hearing Loss

Most of what children with hearing loss learn is learned through seeing and hearing. We talk all the time about how important it is for children with hearing loss to hear well, but we don’t talk enough about the importance of vision. For children with hearing loss, vision is critical. What do we learn from vision testing? We

Do Babies Who Pass Newborn Hearing Screening Need to Be Tested Again?

Normal hearing kids Babies who pass newborn hearing screening are usually released from follow-up. It is assumed that if the baby had normal hearing at birth the child is out of the woods, as they say. But is that so? Usually it is. But not always. Middle ear disease Most kids develop fluid in the middle ear, with or

Deaf Children’s Bill of Rights

Connecticut just joined 11 other states when it passed a Deaf Children’s Bill of Rights. This bill assures that deaf children can receive an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) that specifically includes a language and communication plan. Why is this a good thing? Most children with hearing loss are now educated in mainstream settings. With recent advances in newborn hearing

Should We Use Hearing Aid Special Features on Children?

Harvey Dillon has just published the second edition of Hearing Aids (Thieme, 2012). Harvey is very well known and writes and speaks frequently on this topic. He is a very thorough researcher who has set a very high standard for clinicians. Harvey has written a lot about pediatric hearing aid fitting. In my text book (Madell and Flexer, Pediatric Audiology: Diagnosis,

My Kid Needs a New Hearing Aid

I got an email this morning from a mom asking for advice about a new hearing aid for her teen-aged son. He has a profound hearing loss, has been wearing an AVR transposition hearing aid that is very old and needs replacement. He relies on sign language to receive information, but communicates orally. Without the transposition hearing aid he is not hearing

Sorry I Missed a Post – SANDY

I try to keep ahead of things but Hurricane Sandy interrupted my schedule. I live in the part of NYC that lost power and things just got confusing. I had been away, speaking at the Michigan Audiology Consortium conference in Lansing Michigan and arrived back on Friday night. We drove down to our house on Long Beach Island on Saturday

Teacher – Are You Using the FM Correctly?

It is the beginning of the school year and I am doing a bunch of school visits. I am always surprised to see that FM systems are sometimes being used incorrectly. I did two school visits this week. In both districts, a teacher of the deaf who works in the district had educated the teachers about how to use the

The Environment in which Kids with Hearing Loss Learn

Recent research is indicating that poor language skills in some children with cochlear implants may be related to genetics and the environment rather than problems with the implant. In some cases, siblings of children with CI’s also demonstrated difficulties in language development, suggesting that some of the problems some children with CI’s face may be the result of hereditary or

Welcoming the Child with Hearing Loss to School

Most teachers know very little about hearing loss. If they know someone with hearing loss it is most likely an adult who developed a hearing loss in older age. If they have any experience with hearing aids, they will be from adults who complain that the hearing aids do not sound like what they remember normal hearing sounding like.