Remembering Marion Downs – the pioneer that addressed hearing loss in children
It was only a couple of decades ago that if you were born deaf nobody would know for years. It was up to parents to notice that perhaps something was amiss when their babies grew to toddlers yet weren’t learning to talk like their peers. Often such a late diagnosis meant deaf children never developed the ability to talk.
Luckily, these days life is different for those who are born with hearing loss. And we can all thank one extraordinary woman: Marion Downs.
Marion Downs never intended to be an audiologist. She dropped out of college in the 1930s to have children but once her kids were old enough to go to school, she finished her bachelor degree and enrolled in graduate school at the University of Denver. She received her master’s degree in audiology in 1951.
It was a field dominated by men who told her that it made no difference to children whether hearing loss was detected at birth or later on. It was a ‘fact’ that this mother did not believe and years of research later would prove her right: the early years are critical period for language and speech development and delays in identification and treatment can profoundly affect quality of life.
Related link: 10 things you didn’t know about hearing
In 1959, she worked at an Otolaryngology clinic at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where, along with Doreen Pollack, she began the practice of fitting hearing aids on babies before six months testing her theory the earlier remediation, the better the functioning would be. In 1962, she developed an observational test on newborns and for the decades following, she would travel around the country to urge people to screen newborns for hearing loss. Throughout her life, she trained peers, lectured around the country and authored many books and articles on various aspects of audiology.
It was only in the late 1980s and early 1990s that scientific neurological reports confirmed Marion Downs early remediation theory. In 1993, the National Institutes of Health instituted universal newborn hearing screening.
Downs died of natural causes at aged 100 in November 2014 but will always be remembered for her contributions to improving the lives with people suffering hearing loss.
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The different types of hearing loss explained
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