The Hearing Enrichment Language Program (HELP) is a comprehensive program dedicated to teaching children with hearing loss and their families to listen and talk. HELP, a part of the Cochlear Implant Clinic of INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center located at the Hough Ear Institute, was founded in 1994. Since 1994, because of the improved technology, early identification through newborn hearing screening and an excellent family-focused Auditory-Oral program provided by HELP, expectations for children with significant hearing loss have been raised substantially. The outcomes of children in the program are being demonstrated throughout the state and this increased visibility has also dramatically impacted the need for the services provided at the Hearing Enrichment Language Program and the Cochlear Implant Clinic of INTEGRIS Health.

The need for a service provided by HELP continues to be well documented. Oklahoma has achieved a screening rate of 96% for infants receiving a hearing screening prior to discharge from a birthing hospital or center. According to the Oklahoma Department of Maternal and Child Health, there are approximately 50,000 live births in Oklahoma annually. Of this number one-half of one percent (approximately 250) will have a severe to profound hearing loss and three to six percent (approximately 1,500 to 3,000) will have some degree of measurable hearing loss. Hearing loss is the leading birth anomaly.

Services must be available and accessible to accommodate all individuals that fail the screening. Perhaps the greatest concern is that as more infants are screened and the number of failures increases, the need for trained physicians, pediatric audiologists and speech-language pathologists skilled in the assessment and management of young hearing-impaired infants will increase dramatically.

The HELP program is the leader in the state teaching children who are deaf to listen and talk. At no other time in history have three significant opportunities come together to give hope to these children and their families: early identification of hearing loss through universal infant hearing screening; technological advances in hearing aids and cochlear implants; and early intervention services.