Protocol for the provision of amplification within the Ontario Infant hearing program

Abstract

This document describes the protocol for the provision of amplification to infants and preschool children registered with the Ontario infant hearing program (OIHP) in Canada. The provision of amplification includes the prescription and dispensing of hearing instruments to infants and preschool children identified with permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) in the province of Ontario. The first section deals with the structure and processes of the program, while the second section specifies the clinical procedures that are applied in providing hearing instruments to infants and young children with hearing impairment.

Classificação de perdas auditivas por grau e configuração e relações com Índice de Inteligibilidade de Fala (SII) amplificado

“…A SII value of zero means that no speech sound is audible while a score of 100% means that all the speech information is available (10) . The use of SII is more common in audiology clinical practice as an aid tool in verifying output target for speech stimuli at different intensities and as a strategy for family guidance as a predictor measure of audibility to speech sounds in different types of sound environment (6,11) . When describing the DSLm [i/o] v5 prescription and the presentation of the first results of the application of the method, study (12) exposed some results on the analysis of the values of amplified SII compared to the average of hearing thresholds from 2000 to 6000 Hz using the Verifit  Audioscan equipment.…”

“…The hearing aid (HA) selection process in infants and young children is composed of integrated and sequential steps (2,3) , namely: definition of hearing thresholds, selection of electroacoustic characteristics of amplification, verification of amplification and, finally, validation. These steps, well known by professionals, are systematically described in available protocols of good practice in pediatric audiology (4)(5)(6) . It is in the third step of the HA selection process that the adequacy of amplification is verified according to the prescriptive method selected.…”

“…, the SII replaced the best known Articulation Index (AI) which, by the end of the 80s, was not widely used clinically due to the complexity of calculation. The advancement of technology has enabled the clinical use of the SII to the extent that the HA verification equipment (Verifit  Audioscan, Interacoustics Affinity  ) displays the automatic calculation during the verification procedure (6) . Alternately, the SII can be determined with the use of software developed by researchers at the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).…”

Screening infants for hearing impairment in Canada

“…The prevalence of severe to profound (> 70 dB) bilateral hearing loss in newborns is 1-3 per 1000. 2 With the inclusion of patients with moderate (> 40 dB) bilateral hearing loss, the prevalence would at least double. 2 This means that about 2000 Canadian children will be born with clinically meaningful hearing impairment each year.…”

“…2 With the inclusion of patients with moderate (> 40 dB) bilateral hearing loss, the prevalence would at least double. 2 This means that about 2000 Canadian children will be born with clinically meaningful hearing impairment each year. This rate is alarming, and we feel it is sufficient to require a universal screening program.…”