Texas Hearing Institute and Audiological Services, an adult audiology clinic located in Lufkin, Texas, have partnered to bring new services to children who are deaf and hard of hearing to the Deep East Texas region. Beginning this spring, Texas Hearing Institute will begin offering services to expand early identification of infants who are born deaf or hard of hearing and provide early intervention services to children and their families in the Deep East Texas area. Services will include testing to diagnose infants with hearing loss, called an Auditory Brainstem Response test, and specialized virtual Speech Therapy services.
Patients can schedule an appointment through Texas Hearing Institute’s Audiology Clinic at (713) 337-6408 or via referral from their doctor. Services will be offered at Audiological Services’ 601 Ellis Avenue location in Lufkin.
Currently, most families whose baby fails their newborn hearing screen aren’t able to access the needed services to diagnose whether or not hearing loss is present. Kyle Swift, CEO of Texas Hearing Institute, is passionate about providing access to services to the Deep East Texas region that were previously unavailable.
“Parents currently have to travel to Houston to get these important services and, as a result, often can’t make the trip,” Swift said. “This can cause delayed or permanently undeveloped language skills that hamper literacy and academic achievement that impacts a child for a lifetime.”
Texas Hearing Institute’s partnership with Audiological Services means families located in the Lufkin area would remain within their community to receive expert pediatric audiology services, Swift said.
“It is so important for infants who fail their newborn hearing screening at the hospital to get the appropriate follow-up tests,” said Dr. Jeff Glass, Pediatrician at The Children’s Clinic of Lufkin. “These services will greatly benefit the youngest members of our community.”
Dr. Leah Guempel, owner of Audiological Services, has diligently worked with her staff to provide the hands-on coordination needed for Texas Hearing Institute’s trained pediatric audiologists to provide remote services from Houston for families in Lufkin.
“Our clinic has a long history of serving the Deep East Texas region with high quality audiology services,” Guempel said. “We’re excited to help bring even more services related to pediatric hearing to our community by working with Texas Hearing Institute.”
Texas Hearing Institute will also provide specialized virtual Speech Therapy services to children with hearing loss. These services can be provided virtually with a family able to stay home for speech therapy sessions.
“It is vitally important that babies born with hearing loss be identified as soon as possible after birth so that they can immediately begin catching up on language development,” Peyton Stephens, Assistant Director of Speech Therapy Services at Texas Hearing Institute, said. “If we identify it early, the chances of a child’s language skills catching up to their peers without hearing loss by kindergarten increases dramatically.”
