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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2004
Contact: Edmond McDavis III
(662 241-7851 MUW Speech and Hearing Center
receives two new pieces of equipment
COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Mississippi University for Women’s Speech and
Hearing Center received two new important pieces of equipment, which
will enable the program to excel in both academics and serving the
community.
“The two pieces of equipment that we obtained are a new clinical
audiometer and a new evoked potential unit. Both pieces of equipment
replace similar, but older units and allow the Speech and Hearing Center
to offer state-of-the-art testing capabilities,” said Dr. Bob Oyler,
director and professor of speech/language pathology/audiology.
The equipment will enable students to learn more through practice, as
well as provide needed attention to auditory problems of young children.
Oyler said, “The audiometer is used to measure an individual’s hearing.
It is used to test infants from approximately six months of age on
through the most elderly clients. Graduate students in clinical training
will be exposed to the uses of the clinical audiometer and will learn
how to use this piece of equipment within their professional scope of
practice.
“The evoked potential unit allows us to test newborns who have failed
the universal newborn hearing screening program at the hospital where
they were born. It is used in conjunction with other diagnostic
equipment to determine the degree of hearing loss present and identify
potential reasons for the hearing loss.”
Incorporation of the evoked potential unit will allow the use of a new
testing protocol called the Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR).
“Older units without ASSR capabilities are limited in both the severity
of the hearing loss that can be identified with them and in the amount
of loss present at various frequencies. When fitting an infant with a
hearing aid, both of these pieces of information are critical.”
There are no more than five ASSR units in Mississippi.
Oyler said the Speech and Hearing Center has been a diagnostic center
for the newborn hearing-screening program for this area of Mississippi
since its inception nearly six years ago. They receive referrals from
birthing hospitals in Lowndes, Clay, Oktibbeha and Monroe County.
“First Steps is a part of the Mississippi Department of Health that is
charged with providing services to children with disabilities who are
younger than three years of age. This includes diagnostic evaluation and
direct therapy for any potentially handicapping condition, including
hearing loss,” Oyler said. |
