2025 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 9-11, 2025 • Pittsburgh, PA

DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER

  • A young couple sitting together on a couch, the mother holding their baby. The father is holding a small black-and-white picture book and using sign language to communicate.
  • A young boy with a bone conduction hearing device looks excitedly at a large turtle in an aquarium.
  • A nurse holding a baby in a medical examination room with aquatic-themed wall decorations. The baby is sitting up and looking at the camera while the nurse uses a medical device to check the baby's hearing.
  • A young girl sits in a chair, holding a small toy while a female audiologist places a medical device by her ear.
  • A close-up of a baby wearing a hearing aid, gazing attentively to the side.
  • Two children dressed in playful cowboy outfits. One child, with a hearing aid and a yellow bandana, smiles widely at the camera. The other child, wearing a cowboy hat and a white bandana, laughs joyfully while looking at their friend.
  • A woman and a young boy sit at a table, engaging in a sign language conversation with another woman. The boy is focused on his hands, practicing the signs, while the woman guides him.
  • A man holds a young child while listening to a doctor, who is dressed in a white coat and seated at a desk with a tablet in front of him.
  • A young girl with a cochlear implant smiles at a woman who is smiling back.
  • A young boy with a cochlear implant, his hands covered in colorful paint, gently holds the face of a woman who is smiling with her eyes closed.
  • A baby sleeps peacefully, wrapped in a pink blanket with a pacifier in their mouth. A hand gently places a hearing test device in the baby's ear, while a medical monitor is visible nearby.
  • A baby sits on their mother's lap while a female audiologist fits a hearing aid.
  • Two men smile and interact with a baby.
  • Two men smile and interact with a baby.
  • A young mother holds her toddler while they interact with a female therapist or educator. The therapist is gesturing with her hands, possibly using sign language or explaining something, while the mother and child are engaged and attentive.
  • A young child sitting at a table in a classroom, attentively observing a teacher demonstrating something with an Oreo cookie.
  • A young boy with a cochlear implant playing with an educational bead maze toy while a woman attentively listens and engages with him.
  • A woman and a young boy sit at a table, engaging in a sign language conversation with another woman. The boy is focused on his hands, practicing the signs, while the woman guides him.
  • A young girl wearing a hijab sits on a woman's lap, both smiling as they listen attentively to a doctor holding a medical instrument.
  • A young boy with a bone conduction hearing device looks excitedly at a large turtle in an aquarium.
  • A young boy with a cochlear implant playing with an educational bead maze toy while a woman attentively listens and engages with him.
  • A young boy wearing a bone conduction hearing device plays attentively with a toy mailbox in a playroom.
  • A woman sits on a white couch, reading a picture book to a young child who is wearing a green hearing aid.

Award Winner/Nominee Details 2021

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Daphne Miller

It is with great enthusiasm and admiration that we submit this nomination for Daphne Miller to receive the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. Daphne has been a state EHDI champion in Virginia for over a decade now and has led efforts that continue to make Virginia EHDI a nationally recognized program. Daphne's EHDI career started as a contractor for the Virginia EHDI program, where she ensured the follow-up of infants, and for the past 5 years has led the team as the EHDI Program Coordinator. In her tenure, she has provided strategic direction and solidified program processes and key relationships, which have resulted in a collaborative and inclusive environment in Virginia.

Daphne has cultivated a strong and dedicated advisory committee that is composed of a variety of stakeholders that represent every aspect of EHDI. The group includes several engaged parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. She has leveraged the voice and experience of families in the creation of various resource materials, including the Virginia Shared Plan of Care, revised pamphlets that are distributed to new parents in the hospital after screening, and brochures designed especially for home visitors who work with families needing extra support. In 2018, the advisory committee amended the bylaws to ensure that parents were included as official leaders (co-chairs) of the team - a decision unanimously supported by her team and all members of the committee.

In addition, the Virginia EHDI Learning Community Program was successfully launched in 2017 under Daphne's leadership, and these regional groups continue meeting today. The networks that have been established through this program have connected parents and professionals to EHDI and to each other. Experiences, resources and ideas have been flowing within these geographically diverse communities and in November 2020 Daphne's team established the statewide learning community council. The time had come for parent and professional representatives from each of these groups to share expertise, lessons learned, and resources in a broader way.

In January 2020, Daphne and her team hosted a two-day holding space seminar that enabled pediatric hearing health professionals, early intervention and early childhood providers, PCPs and others who support families of children with hearing loss to become more trusted, powerful and empathetic champions for those they serve. The seminar was nearly sold-out and feedback from both parents and professionals was overwhelmingly positive.

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