2025 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 9-11, 2025 • Pittsburgh, PA
DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER
| Public Health Pediatric Audiology Services Expand Across the State of Oklahoma
Public Health Pediatric Audiology Services Expand Across the State of Oklahoma
Oklahoma continues to strive to meet and exceed CDC guidelines for early hearing detection and intervention. A national and state obstacle to meeting these guidelines is the limited number of pediatric audiologists. A very small portion of the 235 audiologists licensed in the state of Oklahoma specialize in pediatric audiology and accept Oklahoma Medicaid. For those who do, most are in the metropolitan Oklahoma City and Tulsa area. This could be as much as a 4–5-hour drive one way, putting a heavy burden on families due to time off work, gas money, and in some cases overnight stays. Therefore, there is a great need for pediatric audiology services in rural parts of the state.
This poster will show how Oklahoma has worked to improve access to pediatric audiology services in rural parts of the state through the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) Pediatric Audiology Program launched in 2019, with no out of pocket expense to families. Ten county health departments primarily in rural Oklahoma are now equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic audiology equipment to provide services to families no matter where they reside in Oklahoma. Staff currently includes 4 OSDH audiologists and 1 AuD extern, traveling across the state to meet the needs of children with hearing loss and their families. This poster will show how many children have been diagnosed with hearing loss in rural Oklahoma, what ages have been served and how nurturing partnerships with internal child health programs and external community stakeholders have helped to ensure children in any part of the state will receive timely diagnosis and intervention.
- The participant will be able to identify possible ways to duplicate this program in their state
- The participant will be able to identify internal stakeholders within state department's of health and external community stakeholders who are critical to ensuring children receive timely diagnosis and intervention
- The participant will be able to define pediatric audiology’s role in public health
Presentation:
This presentation has not yet been uploaded.
Handouts:
3545975_18099DeborahEarley.pdf
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Deborah Earley
(Primary Presenter,Author), OSDH, DebbieE@health.ok.gov;
Debbie Earley has been an Oklahoma licensed audiologist for 40 years. She currently is the Program Manager of Oklahoma’s Pediatric Audiology Program for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, co-facilitates Oklahoma's Audiology Taskforce, and is on many child health advisory boards. She is passionate about public health and ensuring everyone and their families have access to quality audiology services no matter where they live in Oklahoma. She has been President of the Oklahoma Speech Language and Hearing Association (OSHA), the Chair of Oklahoma’s Board of Examiners for Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, Oklahoma’s representative for the American Speech Language and Hearing Association’s Audiology Advisory Council. In 2017, she received OSHA’s prestigious Honors of the Association Award.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary for Employment from Oklahoma State Department of Health.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with Oklahoma State Department of Health.
Nature: Employer.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Jessica Huddleston
(Co-Presenter,Co-Author), Oklahoma State Department of Health, Jessica.Huddleston@health.ok.gov;
Dr. Huddleston began as an extern with the Oklahoma State Department of Health and upon graduation came on board as an audiologist in 2023. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She travels across the state of Oklahoma providing pediatric audiology services. She is a strong advocate for children with hearing loss and has been invited to be an audiology consultant on several IEP teams in small rural schools.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Casey Pringle
(Co-Author), Oklahoma State Department of Health, Casey.Pringle@health.ok.gov;
Dr. Pringle graduated from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2022 and is an audiologist with the Oklahoma State Department of Health traveling across the state to provide pediatric diagnostic services and helping families navigate follow up.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Landon McGee
(Co-Author), Oklahoma State Department of Health, Landon.McGee@health.ok.gov;
Dr. McGee graduated from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and is an audiologist for the Oklahoma State Department of Health traveling across the state to provide pediatric diagnostic audiologic services and helping families navigate follow up.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -