The Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative is part of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management at Utah State University. The ECHO Initiative focuses on extending the benefit of periodic hearing screening to children 0 – 3 years of age in a variety of health and education settings. We also serve Early Head Start programs as the National Resource Center on Early Hearing Detection and Intervention.

Our goals are to ensure early childhood education and health care providers have:

• Up-to-date information about recommended Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) hearing screening practices;
• Tools to effectively implement OAE screening so that children with hearing health needs are identified as early as possible and provided with appropriate follow-up services and support; and
• Strategies for using hearing screening as an opportunity to promote receptive communication and language development in all children as an integral part of school readiness.

Read a brief description about OAE screening [PDF]

Watch a one-minute video demonstrating OAE screening

Watch a five-minute video explaining how OAE screening relates to Head Start Performance Standards

Consider whether your setting is appropriate for OAE Screening [PDF]

Learn more about the ECHO Initiative

Meet the ECHO Initiative Team

Read published articles