It All Starts with Hearing
Hearing First believes every child deserves the opportunity to have access to all the sounds of speech, a critical component of early brain development. The earlier a baby with hearing loss is given access to sound and a rich language environment, the better the probability for them to develop grade-level literacy and reach their full potential. Hearing First is committed to supporting families at every step of their child’s journey to reach positive listening and spoken language outcomes.
Increased awareness of newborn hearing screening (NHS) and the importance of hearing for brain development can reduce delays in amplification or implantation from years or months to those critical early weeks. When parents know what’s at stake, they act urgently.
With that in mind, the Starts Hear national awareness campaign launched to inform soon-to-be parents about newborn hearing screening. The campaign reaches hundreds of thousands of expectant moms where they spend time — on social media, YouTube, and pregnancy websites. Starts Hear educates about the NHS so parents are prepared with next steps should their baby fail. By increasing awareness among women during pregnancy, the biggest impact to reduce loss to follow-up and loss to documentation could be achieved.
The data shows — the campaign is working! Hundreds of thousands of moms are now informed about the importance of their baby’s hearing and empowered to take action.