The Columbus Speech & Hearing Audiology department is pleased to announce the purchase of new Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) equipment. ABR equipment provides diagnostic testing, which allows our audiology team to measure the hearing sensitivity of children from newborns and older. This purchase was made possible with funding from a grant from Ohio’s Medicaid managed care plans: Anthem, Buckeye, CareSource, Molina and UnitedHealthcare. Our new ABR equipment replaces a much older date model and will allow CSH to test babies in half the time with better reliability and more accurate results.
“I’m so excited that we can offer this service again!” said Dr. Jennifer Thomson, Assistant Director of Audiology. “CSH is one of the only centers with this equipment in central Ohio, and it is a vital opportunity to help parents during an uncertain time and provide the guidance they need to help their young children for the rest of their lives.”
Every baby born in a hospital in the State of Ohio will have their hearing screened at birth before being discharged. Babies who do not pass their screening are referred to clinics like CSH for outpatient ABR testing. The test can tell us if the baby has hearing loss and, if so, to what degree. When a child has hearing loss, early intervention is key. The sooner we know if a child has hearing loss, the sooner we can intervene with amplification. Early intervention services are critical to help with communication and language development.
CSH Audiology team tested our new equipment on some of our youngest helpers, Eleanor “Lenny” and Donovan. Lenny and Donovan’s parents graciously allowed the ABR team to practice using the equipment on their newborns.
If a hospital is referring your newborn for outpatient hearing diagnostic testing, we can help! Call CSH at 614-263-5151 to schedule an appointment.