WITHIN the first few weeks of their life, most babies across Victoria are put through the newborn hearing screening program.<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s cause for concern, the infants are referred to one of the state\u2019s diagnostic centres, of which Ballarat Health Services is one.<\/p>\n
But audiologist Talia Pumpa said BHS\u2019s current newborn hearing diagnostic technology is 13 years old, slow, and unreliable, and theirs is the only regional clinic without \u201ccrucial\u201d up-to-date equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, our current equipment can do one ear, one sound at a time, and it takes probably an hour-plus to do one test… but babies only sleep for a short period of time, and if they wake up, we can\u2019t keep testing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe machine is starting to break down and unfortunately can no longer be repaired.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that in mind, the BHS Foundation has launched an end-of-financial-year tax appeal aiming to raise enough funds to purchase a cutting-edge newborn hearing diagnostic machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis equipment will be a lot faster, a lot more accurate, a lot more reliable… doing four sounds, both ears, at the same time within 20 to 30 minutes,\u201d Ms Pumpa said<\/p>\n
\u201cThe likelihood of getting full results is so much higher, which is the biggest, most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Ballarat in 2020, 26 newborns were referred to the local diagnostic centre, and 11 of them had hearing loss. On average, the clinic sees one to two babies per fortnight for this testing.<\/p>\n
Ms Pumpa said the earlier audiologists intervene, the better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clearly documented that if you can have intervention by six months of age, the gap between these children and their normally-hearing peers is pretty much non-existent, and they get normal speech and language development,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s not picked up early, it\u2019s normally not picked up until they\u2019re three-to-four years old and they miss that crucial window of opportunity for speech and language development.\u201d<\/p>\n
When two-and-a-half-year-old George was born at Ballarat Base Hospital, the newborn hearing screening program, and then diagnostic technologies, identified his permanent hearing loss.<\/p>\n
Mum Jenna Freeman said he had his own hearing aids by 10 weeks old.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so proud of George. He\u2019s a really resilient, happy little kid. To think he only missed out on 10 weeks of hearing, and now he\u2019s got his hearing aids, he isn\u2019t missing out on anything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe babies have to be asleep for testing, so if we\u2019d had to travel to Melbourne or Geelong, and then get the baby settled, and then to sleep, and then have the testing done, it would have been very hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t realise how lucky we were to have to only go 10 minutes down the road to get to all the appointments. We\u2019re really so grateful to have all the services around us to have had such a positive outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a credit to having everything in the town, and the new equipment will make it even faster and easier. That would be amazing, not only for the babies but for the parents as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grampians Health chief operating officer community and aged care Craig Wilding encourages the community to support the appeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelp us to continue to provide this high-quality service to our youngest patients within our region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a family receives news that their newborn has hearing loss, this can be a very stressful time for them. It\u2019s important that our families can receive the care they need without having to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n