Did you know that March is Women’s History Month?
Designated a weeklong celebration by Congress in 1981, the commemorative movement expanded to the entire month of March in 1987, and has since become a widely celebrated time of the year to honor the contributions and achievements of women throughout American history.
Reflecting on the women we’re amazed by this year, the hearing team at Milwaukee ENT couldn’t go without sharing the impact of Dr. Marion Downs with our community. Dr. Downs revolutionized the possibilities of pediatric audiology, particularly the early identification of hearing loss in newborns, infants and young children.
A crusader in a field dominated by men, Dr. Downs pioneered universal newborn hearing screening in the early 60s—then stationed at the University of Colorado School of Medicine as an audiologist—at a time when hospitals wouldn’t bother with hearing solution interventions until the age of three or beyond.
Dr. Downs then made a mission to convince peers in her field to screen children during critical language and brain development ages between 12 and 24 months. She near single-handedly created “best practices” for newborn hearing screening programs, culminating in the creation of the national Joint Committee on Infant Hearing in 1969.
Spending the next three decades at the University of Colorado as a distinguished professor emerita, continuing her work in pediatric audiology, Dr. Downs’s efforts to screen and help newborns adapt to hearing solutions as early as possible did not go unnoticed before or after her death in 2014.
1993 saw the National Institutes of Health hand down a consensus recommendation for universal newborn hearing screening. And today, more than 96% of newborns have their hearing screened within one month of birth.
Want to learn more about newborn hearing screenings? Call Willamette ENT today—(503) 581-1567.
“Have always found the staff and doctors here to be helpful. This was my first visit with Dr. Prze after Dr. Allan retired, and he was very friendly, enthusiastic, and thorough. It was obvious he had read my chart carefully before my checkup.”