MassHAFCC: May 17th is Massachusetts Hearing Loss Awareness Day!!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

May 17th is Massachusetts Hearing Loss Awareness Day!!

Please join MassHAFCC at the State House on May 17th to commemorate "Massachusetts Hearing Loss Awareness Day!" We will kick off the day with a rally at 9:30 a.m. on the State House steps, then head indoors to the House Members Lounge for a "meet and greet" with legislators at 10:00 a.m., then over to Hearing Room A-1 where the Joint Committee on Families, Children and Persons with Disabilities will take testimony at a public hearing for House Bill 52, "An Act to Provide Access to Hearing Aids for Children." We hope that you can join us for this special day!

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It's About Accessibility

In 1998, Massachusetts passed a law mandating hearing screening for all newborns born in the Commonwealth before leaving a hospital or birth center. Once hearing loss is diagnosed and hearing aids are prescribed, however, parents or caregivers must pay out-of-pocket for hearing aids for their children, which cost upwards of $2,000 each and must be replaced every 3 to 5 years. Of the 80,000 births annually in Massachusetts, approximately 150 children will be diagnosed with hearing loss and prescribed hearing aids. Hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects in the U.S., occuring in ~3 of every 1,000 births. Research has shown that early identification of hearing loss and amplification with hearing aids in children prior to 6 months of age yields significantly better receptive and expressive language and vocabulary, personal-social skills and speech production. Our children have proved this to be true. We know that early identification and access to hearing aids results in improved language abilities, lower educational and vocational costs, and increased lifetime productivity. Children who have early access to hearing aids tend to develop speech and language on par with their hearing peers and have joined mainstream classrooms. This means long-term cost savings to the Commonwealth- money that would otherwise be spent on special education, social services and medical care- at a very low cost to private insurance. Access to hearing aids for the children who need them in Massachusetts remains inadequate due to their cost and the fact that most insurance companies specifically exclude hearing aids from coverage in their plans. We can change this, as many other states have, and close the gap between early identification and access to hearing aids for children.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

May 17th is Massachusetts Hearing Loss Awareness Day!!

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