Barriers to Equity in Pediatric Hearing Health Care: A Review of the Evidence.

Purpose: We review the evidence regarding barriers to hearing health care for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Background: There are considerable data to suggest that hearing health care disparities constitute a major factor in loss to follow-up or documentation for children going through the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention process. Families are affected by a combination of factors underlying these disparities, resulting in delayed care and suboptimal developmental outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Evaluation of hearing protection device effectiveness for musicians.

Objective: To evaluate musicians' personal attenuation and perceptions of three types of hearing protection devices (HPDs): formable foam earplugs and both non-custom and custom versions of uniform attenuation earplugs (UAEs) marketed to musicians.

Design: A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate the HPDs. Audiometric testing obtained hearing levels at baseline and with each HPD across frequencies (125-8000 Hz) to determine personal attenuation ratings and uniformity of attenuation.