Today’s universal newborn hearing screening programs can
identify significant hearing impairment in children soon after
birth. Once a hearing loss is identified, the process of
rehabilitation can begin.
It’s now possible to deliver near-normal hearing through a
range of hearing devices, so that children with hearing loss
can develop normal speech and language skills in a mainstream
school setting.
Rehabilitation can involve:
- Fitting of hearing aids
- Surgical cochlear implantation
- A variety of assistive listening devices to make hearing
easier
At Duke, we strive to provide excellent medical care,
integrating our services with those of each child’s
pediatrician and other educational and health care
providers.
Treatments
Our specialists evaluate and treat children from infancy
through age 18. Working as a team, we:
- Accurately characterize the degree and type of hearing
loss
- Monitor for progression of hearing loss
- Identify treatable causes of the loss and associated
medical conditions
- Implement early hearing assistance programs such as
hearing aids, FM units, and implantable hearing devices such
as the Baha (bone anchored hearing device), and cochlear
implants
- Work with local physicians, therapists, and school
personnel to ensure that the child’s needs are met in
educational and other settings
- Carefully follow the child’s hearing and language
development into and throughout the school years
Any child who has a severe to profound hearing loss and does
not make adequate progress with hearing aid amplification may
be evaluated for cochlear implantation.
This decision is made as soon as possible to optimize
auditory input in the early years of developing speech and
language skills. When cochlear implants are warranted, our
otolaryngologists provide expertise in the surgical
implantation of these devices.
Team Approach
The Duke Pediatric Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Cochlear
Implant Clinic cares for children with hearing loss related to
inner ear disorders, congenital problems, and neurological
conditions.
We treat appropriate candidate patients with hearing aids
and cochlear implants as their first steps toward hearing
rehabilitation.
The clinic team consists of several specialists:
- Otolaryngologists (otologists and
pediatric otolaryngologists) with medical
and surgical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of ear
disease in children
- Audiologists and cochlear
implant audiologists with expertise in diagnosis and
management of pediatric hearing loss
- Speech/language pathologists with
expertise in speech and language development of the
hearing-impaired child
- Associated medical specialists in medical
genetics, developmental pediatrics,
child psychology, and other specialties
The clinic is part of Duke Children’s Hospital and Health
Center, a facility designed especially for coordinating the
care of children who have many health needs.
Physicians
Physicians offering this service include:
-
Tucci, Debara L.
-
Surgery /
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
-
Pediatrics /
Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
Locations
This service is available at:
