Listening and Spoken Language Specialists for Children with Hearing Loss: State of the Union

With the advent of newborn hearing screening and state-specific early hearing detection and intervention programs, early diagnosis of children with hearing loss should increase. These children need access to rehabilitation support, hearing amplification and speech therapy, and, if appropriate, evaluation for candidacy for a cochlear implant. Various rehabilitation options exist, including auditory-verbal therapy (now formally known as listening and spoken language therapy). The authors conducted a retrospective analysis and review of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Early Hearing Detection and Intervention databases, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, the National Health Interview Surveys, the U.S. Census, and the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing's Academy for Listening and Spoken Language database to compare the number of certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLSs) to the number of children with hearing loss, per state. The objective of this demographic analysis was to evaluate the access of children with hearing loss to these qualified specialists and to look for explanations for observed discrepancies. In the United States, there is an average of 1 certified LSLS per 228 children with hearing loss younger than 17 years old. The ratios of certified LSLSs to children with hearing loss in individual states ranged from 1:53 to 1:1,781. In addition, at the time of the writing of this manuscript, a certified LSLS was not found in the database for 10 states. The ratio of certified LSLSs to children with hearing loss does not correlate with the total state population or with the state gross domestic product per capita. The authors designed alternative maps of the United States to illustrate the discrepancies observed. The visible state-to-state discrepancy of qualified LSLSs nationwide appears to be independent of the population and wealth of each state.