Eyes Open Ears On
By age four, children hear approximately 46 million words, which are crucial for brain development, particularly for those pursuing a listening and spoken language outcome. For children with hearing loss, consistent use of hearing technology is essential to reach these developmental milestones.
Introducing “Eyes Open, Ears On”
Hearts for Hearing proudly presents the “Eyes Open, Ears On” program, designed to maximize wear-time of hearing devices throughout all waking hours. This program is grounded in the belief that when children’s eyes are open, their ears should be on, giving them constant access to sound to support auditory and language development.
Our Listening and Spoken Language Specialists work closely with families to ensure children with hearing loss have the tools and support necessary to thrive. By emphasizing the continuous use of hearing technology, the program helps foster critical listening and communication skills during a child’s early years.
Our Comprehensive Approach: Expert Guidance and Support
At Hearts for Hearing, our Listening and Spoken Language Specialists collaborate with caregivers to develop strategies for consistent device retention and to create a language-rich environment at home. The key elements of our approach include:
- Device Retention: Encouraging full-day use of hearing devices to ensure consistent access to sound.
- Parent Education: Providing techniques to nurture language development through everyday activities.
- Ongoing Audiological Care: Monitoring hearing health, troubleshooting devices, and adjusting care to support optimal outcomes.
Our “Eyes Open, Ears On” program offers families personalized resources and guidance to ensure their child reaches important developmental goals. With expert care from Listening and Spoken Language Specialists, every sound and interaction contributes to a child’s language and cognitive development.
Learn About Collaborative Care
Hearts for Hearing creates life-changing opportunities for children with hearing loss to listen for a lifetime. Our team of audiologists and speech-language pathologists work together to provide you with the tools you need to optimize your child’s listening and spoken language abilities. Our speech-language pathologists are also certified (or working toward certification) as Listening and Spoken Language Specialists, which means they have specialized training to support the unique needs of children who have hearing loss.
Historically, the families of children with hearing loss have visited separate clinics to see a pediatric audiologist and a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist. At Hearts for Hearing, our pediatric audiologists and Listening and Spoken Language Specialists work together with the shared goal of ensuring your child’s listening and spoken language needs are met at each session. We intentionally include a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist in most pediatric audiology appointments to support your child and family and to ensure we obtain comprehensive and accurate test results and provide optimal intervention as needed.
Programs
Collaborative Care
Listening & Spoken Language Therapy
Hearing Loss Solutions
If your child is diagnosed with hearing loss, we will provide you with detailed and comprehensive information explaining the options you have for optimizing your child’s communication, language, and literacy abilities. If you choose for your child to communicate through listening and spoken language, your pediatric audiologist will recommend hearing technology that will maximize your child’s hearing abilities, and your pediatric audiologist and Listening and Spoken Language Specialist will also create a plan to provide the therapies and services your child will need to reach his or her full potential. Hearts for Hearing funding is available to ensure that the recommended services are available to all children, even when their families’ financial resources are limited.
Hearing Technology
Our team of audiologists will work to determine the types of hearing technology that's right for your child. Types of hearing technology for children include behind-the-ear cochlear implants, remote microphone systems, and more.
Listening & Spoken Language Therapy
Our speech-language pathologists are also certified (or working toward certification) as Listening and Spoken Language Specialists, meaning they have specialized training to support the unique needs of children who have hearing loss.
Patient Stories: Lany
Born 7 weeks early, Lany was diagnosed with hearing loss shortly after leaving the hospital. Today, Lany is 3 years old and thriving with the use of listening and spoken language. Hear mom Leanna share her story.
Here to Support and Empower Families
Hearts for Hearing provides support as needed to classroom teachers, administrators, and other school personnel to help them utilize and feel comfortable with hearing technology used by students at their schools. A classroom observation outlining details such as classroom acoustics, use of remote microphone systems and other hearing technologies in the classroom, self-advocacy skills, and special issues relevant to education for children with hearing loss is an excellent opportunity to build partnerships that will ensure success in the mainstream classroom.
Heart-to-Heart is a closed family Facebook group for the immediate family members of children who receive services at Hearts for Hearing. The purpose is to provide a private forum for families to connect and provide support to one another. The group is also used as a way for Hearts for Hearing to notify patients about upcoming events and helpful resources. If you would like to join this group, please speak to your audiologist or Listening and Spoken Language Specialist.