May is national Better Hearing and Speech Month. To recognize that, and to encourage people to incorporate hearing tests into their annual health check-ups, TCU's Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic is offering free hearing screenings. TCU's hearing screenings are available on a reservation basis at the Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic, located at 3305 W. Cantey, on Tuesday, May 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. RSVP at 817-257-7620.

The 30-minute screenings, available to adults and children ages four and older, consist of a 15-minute preliminary evaluation to determine hearing loss and a 15-minute counseling session to explain test results. Screenings will be conducted by TCU graduate students, supervised by ASHA-certified (American Speech Language Hearing Association) audiologists.

"Hearing loss affects one out of ever four persons over the age of 60 and increases to one out of three over age 70," said Sharon Rapp, audiologist in TCU’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. "With noise exposure (video games, stereos), noise-related hearing loss is appearing as early as school age. Even minimal loss has been demonstrated to affect language development and school performance.”

Hearing loss can results in social isolation due to reduced connectedness to environment and reduced awareness to warning signals. Anger, depression, embarrassment are common emotions as the hearing impaired listener struggles to fill in communication gaps. Hearing loss can change relationships sometimes causing increased dependency of family members, lack of assertiveness and dependency on others.

While primarily associated with senior citizens, hearing loss affects all age groups. According to statistics, 33 newborns leave the hospital every day with hearing loss and 30 out of every 1,000 children have some type of hearing impairment. Hearing loss among children is often called the "hidden disability" because symptoms children exhibit when they can't hear, such as not paying attention or an inability to sit still, are often misdiagnosed as attention deficit disorder. The fastest growing incidence of hearing loss is among teenagers, primarily because many teens use low-frequency levels, which tend to over stimulate the inner ear, to boost stereo sound or video game systems.

TCU has offered the free hearing clinic for the past fifteen years. Last year, 25 percent of the participants exhibited some sort of hearing problem. Throughout the year, the clinic provides hearing screenings and follows up for children in local Head Start day cares. Approximately 50 percent of TCU graduate students who work in the clinic are bilingual. Graduate studies in speech-language pathology offer an exciting array of academic and clinical experiences that lead to eligibility for the ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence. A majority of the learning situations are in the Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic, a modern fully quipped facility located on the TCU campus.

For more information on the screenings, contact TCU's Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic, at 817-257-7620 or visit http://www.chhs.tcu.edu/.

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