Health & Wellness

Pioneer of Progress

Pioneer of Progress

Karl White honored for worldwide impact on newborn hearing screening
 
Utah State University professor Karl R. White is the perfect example of someone whose work has received international acclaim, but whose own next-door neighbors only know him as the guy with the great barn and beautiful horses. White has traveled over recent years throughout the world to receive honors for his work on newborn hearing screening, but now those honors have come closer to home.
 
Utah’s Days of '47 organization recently awarded White its Pioneers of Progress Award in the field of Education, Health and Humanitarian Assistance. The award was presented as part of the annual Pioneer Day celebrations.
 
White is a professor of psychology at USU and the founding director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management. He was honored for his work in early detection and treatment of hearing loss in infants and young children.
 
The award is given annually during the Days of ’47 celebrations to five outstanding Utahns who carry on the “pioneer legacy of industry and integrity” by achievements that benefit present and future generations. The honor has been awarded since 1995. Recipients are nominated by Utah citizens and are selected from various fields of industry.
 
White is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on early identification and treatment of hearing loss. He has written hundreds of publications and has been invited to speak in 31 countries, where he has also assisted in the implementation of newborn hearing screening and intervention programs.
 
 “I am always surprised when I receive this kind of attention — in fact I look at all of the others around the state who have done so much, and I wonder why they would pick me,” White said. “It is a great honor.”
 
White credited others for his success.
 
“I feel like I was in the right place at the right time,” he said. “There are hundreds of other people involved in the development of newborn-hearing screening in this country and world-wide, I am grateful to be a part of it.”
 
White is being honored as a pioneer in the field of newborn-hearing screening. The importance of having newborns screened for hearing loss has been recognized for many years, but it was White who spearheaded the movement in the early 1990s to develop the technology and create the programs necessary to screen all newborn children for hearing loss.
 
Through the screening process White developed, doctors are now able to test babies for hearing problems that can also identify life-threatening diseases. It also gives researchers an increased understanding of childhood brain development.
 
White is currently pioneering the new “Sound Beginnings of Cache Valley” program that will give children who are born deaf the opportunity to learn to listen and talk through the use of hearing technology such as cochlear implants and digital hearing aids. It will also include participation in auditory-oral educational programs.
 
According to White, the program is only one of three like it in the entire United States and the only one between St. Louis and San Francisco. Participation in such programs during the first few years of life will enable most deaf children to succeed in school on a similar level to their hearing peers.
 
“This program will be a huge benefit to children with hearing loss and to their families,” said White. “It is very exciting to see how these children are able to communicate with their family members and peers. When they get the proper type of assistance, it makes all the difference in the world.”
 
White’s work has been recognized with awards from such diverse organizations as the Deafness Research Foundation, the American Association for Speech Language and Hearing, the Swedish Society of Medicine and the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
 
He serves on many national and international advisory groups for organizations such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, March of Dimes, the American College of Medical Genetics and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
 
White’s work was featured in a 30-minute Public Television documentary, “Voices of Vision,” a documentary designed to highlight the accomplishments of organizations “whose leadership efforts make the world a better place.”
 
For more information on White’s research, visit the National Center for Hearing Management’s website at www.infanthearing.org.

Download PDF

Comments and questions regarding this article may be directed to the contact person listed on this page.

Next Story in Health & Wellness

See Also