Before recent grassroots initiatives to mandate infant hearing screening, the average age for detection of hearing loss among children was 2.5 years. A great deal of development takes place in those first years of life, and 2.5 years was just too long to wait before initiating detection and intervention.

ASHA has fought for legislation to provide early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) funding and has provided model legislation for members' use at the state level. The newborn hearing screening pages on ASHA' s Web site ensure that members and the public have the latest information, and members and staff have had great success encouraging newspapers, television, radio, and magazines to cover the issue. Since last year, PBS' HealthWeek, NBC Nightly News, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Child magazine, Parents magazine, and scores of regional dailies have all covered newborn hearing screening.

Legislative momentum continues to build on the issue of EHDI, and public awareness is growing about the impact of hearing loss. It's the stories of the children--real life examples that cut through all the discussion and debate--that remind us why this issue is such a priority.