Hearing and Kids

Featured image for “Hearing Loss in Children: The Desirable Classroom Acoustics Imperative”
Aug. 21, 2022

Hearing Loss in Children: The Desirable Classroom Acoustics Imperative

Jane Madell
Editor’s Note: This post is written by my good friend Joseph Smaldino. Dr. Smaldino received his PhD in audiology from the University of Florida and his research areas are hearing aids, speech perception and audiologic rehabilitation, but he has focused for the last 20 years on the effects of classroom acoustics on listening and learning.  He served on the American National
Featured image for “Changing Cochlear Implant Criteria”
Aug. 10, 2022

Changing Cochlear Implant Criteria

Jane Madell
For some reason, the cochlear implant guidelines for young children has always been behind the times. For a long time children with a profound hearing loss could be implanted at 1 year but a child with a severe hearing loss could not be implanted before age 2. Don’t children who are 18 months old need to hear? Audiologists and ENT’s
Featured image for “Thirty Million Words: How Early Language Exposure Shapes Brain Development”
Jul. 25, 2022

Thirty Million Words: How Early Language Exposure Shapes Brain Development

Jane Madell
Dr. Dana Suskind, a pediatric otolaryngologist at the University of Chicago Medical School wrote the wonderful book Thirty Million Words – Building a Child’s Brain, She is Director of the 30 million words initiative at the University of Chicago Medical School – a program to build language and build the brains of children who are growing up in poverty who
Featured image for “Books about kids with hearing loss”
Jul. 19, 2022

Books about kids with hearing loss

Jane Madell
When children read books they want to find books that they can identify with. Children of color want to read books in which there are children of color. Girls want to read books in which there are strong girls (like the Mighty Girl) series. Children with hearing loss who wear hearing aids and cochlear implants want to read books about
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Jun. 28, 2022

Dealing with Grief

Jane Madell
The world of audiology has changed dramatically since I started in this field in 1963. I was fortunate to have a wonderful mentor, David Luterman, who helped me to understand the role of grief for audiologists and for the families we work with. The work of Kris English, Johnnie Sexton, and others has made it clear than many audiologists do
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Jun. 14, 2022

Advice for New Pediatric Audiologists

Jane Madell
Spring time and a bunch of newly minted people will graduate as audiologists. Some will even be pediatric audiologists. (Hurrah – we need as many as we can get!! ) What does it take to become a good (or great) pediatric audiologist? Pediatric audiology is different than adult audiology. For both you need to understand  all the basics of testing
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May. 24, 2022

Music is Important

Jane Madell
I have recently started taking piano lessons again after many years and am having a wonderful time. While I have continued to sing and to play guitar but the piano is different. It is reminding me of how important music is to brain development. The Brain Volts Lab at Northwestern run by the brilliant clinician Nina Kraus has done a
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Apr. 19, 2022

Two Ears Matter

Jane Madell
Years ago, when we were only implanting one ear, there was a great deal of discussion about whether to implant the right or left ear. Sometimes the two ears have significantly different hearing. When only one ear was being implanted or one ear was implanted first, there was a lot of discussion about which ear to implant first. Some thought
Featured image for “Learning to deal with new technology”
Mar. 08, 2022

Learning to deal with new technology

Jane Madell
I have recently gotten hearing aids and it reminded me that we need to remember that adjusting to new technology is an effort for everyone. I remember in the olden days when people moved from analog to digital hearing aids both children and adults were certain that the new hearing aids weren’t working because they just didn’t sound as loud.
Featured image for “Supporting Children in After School Activities”
Jan. 25, 2022

Supporting Children in After School Activities

Jane Madell
We know how important it is provide support services to children with hearing loss in school. It is just as important to provide support with after school activities. There are several things do consider. Vocabulary Does the child know all the words associated with the activity? Don’t assume. In sports activities think about all the words that might come up