The National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) has taken a pivotal step by joining the Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice (IDRPP) at Utah State University (USU). This collaboration marks a significant milestone in NCHAM’s ongoing mission to identify hearing loss in infants and young children across the nation.
This partnership also represents a homecoming for NCHAM founder Karl White. His groundbreaking work began at Utah State University in 1978 when he served as a researcher and Division Director at IDRPP, then known as the Exceptional Child Center.
In 1984, White expanded his expertise during a sabbatical in Washington, D.C., as a Congressional Science Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This experience was instrumental in establishing NCHAM as a research center at USU. From its inception, NCHAM spearheaded a movement to detect hearing loss in newborns, demonstrating to state health departments that universal screening was not only feasible but essential. Today, as a result of these pioneering efforts, every state boasts a universal early hearing screening program for newborns.
Continuing the Mission
Currently, NCHAM provides a suite of services and resources aimed at promoting evidence-based research and practices related to early detection of hearing loss in infants and young children. This includes initiatives focused on “newborn hearing” programs, ensuring that every child has access to timely screening and intervention.
The 24th Annual National Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Conference will be held in Pittsburgh in March 2025. This event is expected to attract over 1,100 participants, including audiologists, early intervention specialists, family members, advocates, university faculty, and students from across the United States.
In addition to the conference, NCHAM oversees the Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention. Since its launch in 2016, this journal has been a cornerstone for promoting evidence-based practices, research, and standards of care. Available for free to authors and readers through USU’s Digital Commons, the journal’s articles are downloaded over 25,000 times annually by individuals worldwide.
NCHAM also offers free internet-based services that connect families with pediatric audiology providers, as well as a curriculum designed for “newborn hearing” screening providers. Moreover, it has developed specialized software to track newborn hearing screening results and follow infants through the identification and intervention process. This software is now utilized not only across the United States but also in several other countries.
A Promising Collaboration
“We’re excited to have the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management join forces with the USU IDRPP,” said IDRPP Executive Director Matthew Wappett. “Our shared commitment to improving the lives of individuals with disabilities and supporting families creates exciting opportunities for collaboration.”
This collaboration underscores the vital role that NCHAM plays in advancing early hearing detection and intervention.
The Evolution of Universal Screening
In the early 1980s, universal newborn hearing screening programs were nonexistent in any state.
“People have argued for and advocated for identifying babies [with hearing loss] as soon after birth as possible for the last 100 years,” White said. “Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t available to do universal newborn hearing screening. … By the mid-1970s technology had been developed that could accurately diagnose hearing loss in babies, but it was too expensive to do it for all babies.
“At about that time, an auditory physicist in England named David Kemp discovered what’s called otoacoustic emissions that could be used to identify babies with congenital hearing loss. The test is inexpensive, simple and noninvasive. … Instead of costing $500 per baby back in the early ’80s … you could do it for $20 a baby.”
As technology advanced, White found himself in Washington, D.C., working on the Education of the Deaf Act of 1985. Following the act’s passage, he was invited to assist in implementing its provisions, starting with a universal newborn screening program in Rhode Island. This invitation came as a surprise to White, whose expertise was in statistics and research methodology, not audiology. However, his skills in research design and evaluation proved invaluable.
The Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Project became the first systematic evaluation of a large-scale universal newborn hearing screening program.
“As word got out that universal newborn hearing screening could be done successfully, other states began picking up on it,” White said. “Utah was one of the first.”
These efforts culminated in the establishment of NCHAM, with a mission to support a growing number of state programs dedicated to early hearing detection and intervention.
Advancing Technology and Looking Ahead
Technology in this field continues to evolve rapidly.
“About 60% of all childhood hearing loss has a genetic component to it,” White said. “In many ways we are now in a similar position with genetic screening as we were with otoacoustic emissions-based screening, back in the early 80s. We know how to do it. The protocols have been researched extensively. It just hasn’t happened on a large scale.”
Wappett emphasized the exciting opportunities this collaboration presents.
“By combining NCHAM’s expertise in early hearing detection and intervention with IDRPP’s dedication to interdisciplinary disability research, education and services, we can develop innovative approaches to support children and their families,” he said. “Together, we will work towards a future where every child with hearing loss has the opportunity to reach their full potential.”
NCHAM and the Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice are both integral parts of the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University. Together, they are shaping the future of “newborn hearing” detection and intervention, ensuring that no child is left without the opportunity for early diagnosis and care.
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