Healthy Hearing Program

The Healthy Hearing Program became a part of the Healthy Athletes Initiative for Special Olympics in 1998. It has two objectives:

1. Study the number and percentage of Special Olympics athletes with hearing impairments.
2. Widely screen the hearing of athletes during the Special Olympics Games. Notify athletes themselves and their coaches if medical treatment is needed.

What is hearing screening?
Hearing screening is much more timesaving than auditory threshold check. Unlike the auditory threshold check that has to be conducted in a soundproof room, it can be performed in a regular room that is relatively quiet. This method can quickly identify people in further need of clinical auditory threshold check. For example, most of public and private schools in the U.S. perform hearing screening in the early school age to find children with impaired hearing and offer individual follow-up to prevent resulting obstacles in study. Healthy Hearing Program for Special Olympics also uses such a preventive mode as its foundation.

Hearing screening tests audio frequency within a certain range, normally 500 – 4000 Hz (1997 American Speech and Hearing Association Standard). The most frequently used method selects 25 dB (HL) as the starting point, if the screened person raises hand to indicate that he/she can hear all frequency at this volume, his/her hearing is normal and there is no communication difficulty due to impaired hearing.

Hearing screening can also use Otoacoustic Emission (OAE), which has been widely adopted in the general survey of newborns. Such a straightforward and objective measuring and testing method can also be used for children and adults, with no need for people under testing to respond.

OAE equipment sends out different frequencies from the acoustic probe, spreading from external ear to inner ear, and then measure and analyzes the response of cochlea to the sound. There is no need for people under testing to respond in any way. The hearing and audio frequency range of OAE screening is in essence the same as that of pure tone screening. Consequently, the results from the two screening are the same.