Hearing on the Horizon

Permanent hearing loss is the most frequent birth defect in the United States, affecting 12,000 newborns each year. USU has created a program called “Sound Beginnings of Cache Valley” that will focus on developing spoken language and listening skills for young children who are deaf. The program will provide an alternative for deaf children and their families, but will not replace USU’s existing sign language training. With many new technological advances, including cochlear implants, we now have the technology to enable deaf children to develop language similarly to their hearing peers, says Beth Foley, department of head of communicative disorders and deaf education.

For more information about the program, or to enroll a child, contact the USU Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, 435-797-7554, or USU’s National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, 435-797-1224, or email Vicki Simonsmeirer [Vicki.Simonsmeirer@usu.edu] or Diane Behl [diane.behl@usu.edu].