EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — With every beep or frequency four-and-a-half-year-old Addison hears, she has to drop a small toy into a cup.
Addison is getting her hearing tested at East Stroudsburg University Speech and Hearing Clinic.
"We offer services, free services actually to the community to address any hearing, or speech, and language problems. We do preschoolers, we do any ages from teenagers and childhood all the way up to older adults," said Elizabeth Velez, a Speech-Language Pathology student at ESU.
On average, the clinic sees hundreds of patients a year; many of them are children.
Student clinicians say undetected hearing and speech problems can lead to communication, reading, social, and academic issues throughout a child's life.
"Ages from 1 to really like their adolescent are really prone to ear infections, so we catch a lot of that, which an ear infection can cause hearing loss which can later develop into, loss language and speech sounds," said Abby Wrenfrow, a Speech Language Pathology student at ESU.
Not only does the clinic provide hearing screenings to the community, but it also gives students a hands-on experience in their field.
"If we get a new client, I'm like, oh well, according to their symptoms and what I know, I'm able to kind of pick and point and do like a differential diagnosis, and I'm like oh well, and do the right assessment for them because that's always important and then you know to be able to give them the diagnosis and treatment that correlates with the diagnoses," said Velez.
The clinic now has two new audiometers thanks to grants given by the WAWA Foundation and Rotary Club of the Smithfields; they will be used to screen the hearing of preschoolers.
"Our first audiometer was 30 pounds. It was ancient, from the 80s, but this new great machine it's very light. You can hold it with your pink, and it's just simpler to use," said Wrenfrow.
Students say the newer equipment will make it easier to do community outreach.
If you are interested in scheduling an appointment with ESU Speech and Hearing Clinic, you can call them at 570-422-3247.
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