Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 9 · column 1 of 5 · from the scan, no model involved
By George Rowand
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The statistics report that three babies in a thousand are born with hearing loss. Left undetected long enough, that loss can lead to lifelong language problems, with resultant difficulties in school, work and life.
The Fauquier Hospital has moved to address that situation with a hearing test for newborns.
Recently, a TV crew from Poland visited the hospital to view how the process is done here. Poland recently instituted universal hearing screening for newborns, financed initially by a charity called The Great Orchestra of Christmas. A Polish pop star devoted his time and energy to the effort, which raised $6 million.
Check out the baby
One-day old John Renner was wheeled into a small room for his testing. The son of John and Angela Renner was quiet throughout the procedure, which involved nurse Joan Shiban attaching small earphones to his ears and sensors to his forehead, neck and shoulder. Both ears can be tested at the same time.
“The machine will send clicking sounds into the baby’s ears and the baby will have a brain stem response back,” said Kim Fitzpatrick, clinical consultant for Natus, the maker of the machine.
“What happens is that the machine has a template of normal baby hearing, and the machine gives you an automated response,” Fitzpatrick continued. “The machine will give either a ‘pass’ or a ‘refer’ result, which means that there needs to be further testing.”
“The program started 15 years ago,” said Tom Behrens, the inventor of the machine. “I was shocked that we were still identifying children (with hearing loss) at 30 months, and, if you wait that long, a very
See HEARING, Page B2
95.1%