Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program

A team of audiologists from the Center for Disabilities and Development provide technical assistance to the Iowa Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, a cooperative project between the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), the Department of Education (DOE), and Child Health Specialty Clinics (CHSC). The audiologists respond to direct requests for information about EDHI from professionals working in hospitals, Area Education Agencies and private audiology practices. They conduct site visits to train hospital personnel to implement newborn hearing screening, improve screening performance and enter the screening data into the state EHDI database. In addition, the team provides technical assistance to representatives from IDPH, CHSC, DOE, Headstart and Iowa's Part C Early Intervention program to support the development of hearing screening programs in Iowa's Early Headstart programs.

The EHDI database is used to reduce loss to follow up for babies who do not pass their initial hearing screening, to identify the number of babies actually diagnosed with congenital hearing loss, and to increase the number of those with hearing loss enrolled in early intervention programs. As more and more professionals in the state use the EHDI database, the reports from EHDI stakeholders indicate an increasing number of infants and toddlers being fit with hearing aids, receiving cochlear implants, and being entered into early intervention programs.

For more information about this initiative, get in touch with Meredith Field at [email protected] who will direct you to the appropriate contact person, or visit Iowa's EDHI website.