Podcasts about background children

In 2011, following a successful career in media, Carolyn set her sights on improving access to children’s hearing screening. Securing funding from the NSW government and in collaboration with the National Acoustic Laboratories, the research arm of Australian Hearing, Carolyn established Sound Scouts - a digital, game-based solution to detect hearing loss in children. Background: Children across Australia have their hearing tested at birth but the newborn hearing screening test only detects moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss. Children found to have hearing loss at birth thankfully receive treatment and support to address their hearing issues. Unfortunately, many forms of hearing issues can develop in the years after birth. Illness, injury and genetics can cause a child to develop debilitating hearing issues that if left untreated can have a profound impact on their life. Consequently, more children are first fitted with hearing aids during the first three years of school than are fitted in the first year of life (as evidence by data from Australian Hearing). In an effort to address the significant number of children starting school with undetected hearing loss, Sound Scouts, in collaboration with the National Acoustic Laboratories (the research arm of Australian Hearing) developed the Sound Scouts App.   The Sound Scouts App is a mobile application that reliably screens a child for hearing issues. Hearing science has been incorporated into a game based test that ensures the children remain engaged throughout the testing process, delivering rich, reliable data. The game incorporates patent pending technology – specifically the combination of different types of hearing tests to increase test sensitivity and enable, in most cases, different types of hearing problems to be differentiated from each other. Carolyn has transformed the hearing health space in Australia with her innovative product and her passion for ensuring no child in Australia falls behind due to undetected hearing loss, which can cause both academic and social disadvantage. 

Background: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show a marked temporal variability in their display of symptoms and neuropsychological performance. This could be explained in terms of an impaired glial supply of energy to support neuronal activity. Method: We pursued one test of the idea with measures of a neurotrophin reflecting glial integrity (S100B) and the influences of 8 cytokines on the metabolism of amino-acids, and of tryptophan/kynurenine to neuroprotective or potentially toxic products that could modulate glial function. Serum samples from 21 medication-naive children with ADHD, 21 typically-developing controls, 14 medicated children with ADHD and 7 healthy siblings were analysed in this preliminary exploration of group differences and associations. Results: There were no marked group differences in levels of S100B, no major imbalance in the ratios of pro-to anti-inflammatory interleukins nor in the metabolism of kynurenine to toxic metabolites in ADHD. However, four trends are described that may be worthy of closer examination in a more extensive study. First, S100B levels tended to be lower in ADHD children that did not show oppositional/conduct problems. Second, in medicated children raised interleukin levels showed a trend to normalisation. Third, while across all children the sensitivity to allergy reflected increased levels of IL-16 and IL-10, the latter showed a significant inverse relationship to measures of S100B in the ADHD group. Fourthly, against expectations healthy controls tended to show higher levels of toxic 3-hydroxykynurenine (3 HK) than those with ADHD. Conclusions: Thus, there were no clear signs ( S100B) that the glial functions were compromised in ADHD. However, other markers of glial function require examination. Nonetheless there is preliminary evidence that a minor imbalance of the immunological system was improved on medication. Finally, if lower levels of the potentially toxic 3 HK in ADHD children were confirmed this could reflect a reduction of normal pruning processes in the brain that would be consistent with delayed maturation ( supported here by associations with amino-acid metabolism) and a reduced metabolic source of energy.

Background: Children with congenital hearing impairment benefit from early detection and management of their hearing loss. These and related considerations led to the recommendation of universal newborn hearing screening. In 2001 the first phase of a national Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) was implemented in England. Objective of this study was to assess costs and effectiveness for hospital and community-based newborn hearing screening systems in England based on data from this first phase with regard to the effects of alterations to parameter values. Methods: Design: Clinical effectiveness analysis using a Markov Model. Outcome measure: quality weighted detected child months (QCM). Results: Both hospital and community programmes yielded 794 QCM at the age of 6 months with total costs of 3,690,000 pound per 100,000 screened children in hospital and 3,340,000 pound in community. Simulated costs would be lower in hospital in 48% of the trials. Any statistically significant difference between hospital and community in prevalence, test sensitivity, test specificity and costs would result in significant differences in cost-effectiveness between hospital and community. Conclusion: This modelling exercise informs decision makers by a quantitative projection of available data and the explicit and transparent statements about assumptions and the degree of uncertainty. Further evaluation of the cost-effectiveness should focus on the potential differences in test parameters and prevalence in these two settings.

Background: Children with congenital hearing impairment benefit from early detection and treatment. At present, no model exists which explicitly quantifies the effectiveness of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) versus other programme alternatives in terms of early diagnosis. It has yet to be considered whether early diagnosis (within the first few months) of hearing impairment is of importance with regard to the further development of the child compared with effects resulting from a later diagnosis. The objective was to systematically compare two screening strategies for the early detection of new-born hearing disorders, UNHS and risk factor screening, with no systematic screening regarding their influence on early diagnosis. Methods: Design: Clinical effectiveness analysis using a Markov Model. Data Sources: Systematic literature review, empirical data survey, and expert opinion. Target Population: All newborn babies. Time scale: 6, 12 and 120 months. Perspective: Health care system. Compared Strategies: UNHS, Risk factor screening (RS), no systematic screening (NS). Outcome Measures: Quality weighted detected child months (QCM). Results: UNHS detected 644 QCM up until the age of 6 months ( 72,2%). RS detected 393 child months (44,1%) and no systematic screening 152 child months (17,0%). UNHS detected 74,3% and 86,7% weighted child months at 12 and 120 months, RS 48,4% and 73,3%, NS 23,7% and 60,6%. At the age of 6 months UNHS identified approximately 75% of all children born with hearing impairment, RS 50% and NS 25%. At the time of screening UNHS marked 10% of screened healthy children for further testing ( false positives), RS 2%. UNHS demonstrated higher effectiveness even under a wide range of relevant parameters. The model was insensitive to test parameters within the assumed range but results varied along the prevalence of hearing impairment. Conclusion: We have shown that UNHS is able to detect hearing impairment at an earlier age and more accurately than selective RS. Further research should be carried out to establish the effects of hearing loss on the quality of life of an individual, its influence on school performance and career achievement and the differences made by early fitting of a hearing aid on these factors.