CDIS partnership coordinator Leslie Baldwin stands by an Oklahoma State Department of Health van used to provide hearing tests across the state. Photo provided by Leslie Baldwin.

OSU, Oklahoma State Department of Health partner to provide hearing tests

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Manager of Marketing and Communications | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu

The OSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CDIS) is working with the Oklahoma State Department of Health to provide free hearing tests to underserved communities across Oklahoma.

CDIS graduate students trained on Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) and Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) technology have already started performing hearing screenings at sites arranged by the department of health. OSDH also provides the necessary equipment and opens the services to the public.

Dr. Ramesh Kaipa, CDIS department head and associate professor, said that since the department's founding, its primary aim has been to serve the public by offering free and subsidized services through the OSU Speech-Language-Hearing clinic.

“Our department’s mission is in line with OSU’s land-grant mission, which is to serve Oklahomans,” Kaipa said. “Recently, we realized that through our clinic, we could not reach Oklahomans who live in rural and underserved areas of the state. As a result, we have established community partnerships — as in this case, with the State Department of Health — that would help us to take our services to underserved areas.”

At some locations, the state department will provide vision screenings and other health-related services. Leslie Baldwin, CDIS lecturer and undergraduate advisor, is the partnership’s coordinator. She hopes to see the services offered expand to include speech-language and cognitive screenings.

“This partnership provides access to a population our students don’t typically see when working within the walls of our building on campus,” Baldwin said. “It gives them experience seeing communities in their own space and a chance to grow in their world view and enhance their clinical skills.”

CDIS and OSDH will serve the Otoe Tribe (Noble County) on Sept. 21, Oilton (Creek County) on Oct. 3, Northern Oklahoma College (Kay County) on Nov. 14, and Stroud (Lincoln County) on Dec. 7.

For more information about this partnership, contact public information officer Scott Haywood at scott.haywood@health.ok.gov.

Story By: Kelli Leech, CAS graduate student | kelli.leech@okstate.edu