A first-of-its-kind study by the University of Iowa on hundreds of children with mild-to-severe hearing loss finds those kids don’t learn to speak or communicate as well as others who have good hearing. Beth Walker, a U-I professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, says children who were fitted with hearing aids at a very young age develop language skills much more quickly. “We did find that these hearing aids really do have an impact on language outcome,” Walker says. “They need to be fit as early as possible, worn consistently during all waking hours and fit appropriately.”

The study involved children from 17 states, ranging in age from six months to seven years. It’s the first time such a study has been undertaken since universal newborn hearing screening wasn’t available to most children at birth until about a decade ago. Those screenings, Walker says, are vital. “Ninety-eight percent of all infants are screened for hearing loss at birth, so we want to get all of those babies screened as soon as possible,” Walker says. “We can do this when they are as young as two or three days old. That will allow us to identify the hearing loss very early on and then we can provide the intervention that they need.”

While there is a wealth of study on deaf children, before this study, Walker says little was known about hard-of-hearing kids. It’s important for a child with hearing loss to get the hearing aid as early as possible, but she says it’s equally important for that device to fit properly. “Children’s ears grow very quickly,” Walker says. “With kids, we’ll have them wear behind-the-ear hearing aids. They’ll have an ear mold and then the hearing aid will go behind the ear and with their ears growing so fast, we have to have those ear molds replaced pretty frequently.”

In an infant, that could mean visits to the audiologist every three to six months for fittings, and less often as the child ages. Walker says about one-third of the study’s hearing-impaired children were not well-fitted with hearing aids. The study is being published in the journal, Ear and Hearing, the major journal published by the American Auditory Society.

(Radio Iowa)

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a man was arrested Sunday evening on a felony weapons charges.  46-year old Mark D. Berggren, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 5:20-p.m., in Elliott.

Berggren had been arrested Sunday morning, following an investigation of an earlier incident.  Sunday evening, he was charged with Possession of a firearm and ammunition while subject to a protective order. Berggren was transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center with the assistance of Red Oak Police.

His bond was set at $5,000.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

CRESCO, Iowa (AP) — Workers at Featherlite Trailers’ plant in northeast Iowa will soon begin customizing their horse trailers to add living quarters, creating 50 new jobs in Cresco. Featherlite Operations Manager Scott Milburn tells the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier demand for the trailers with living quarters was strong enough that the company decided to add the work to its plant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating a shooting outside a Des Moines nightclub that killed one man and wounded three other people. The Polk County Sheriff’s office says deputies were called to the Evolution Nightclub around 1:45 a.m. Sunday because of a fight outside. As deputies arrived, they heard several gunshots. Deputies then found shooting victim 20-year-old Dashwan Smith.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 17-year-old Des Moines man has been arrested as a suspect in Friday’s fatal shooting. Des Moines Police say the teen was arrested late Saturday on suspicion of first-degree murder. The 17-year-old will be charged in the shooting death of 28-year-old Jose Lopez, who was found dead north of downtown Des Moines around 10:30 p.m. Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told CBS ‘Face the Nation’ Sunday that he’s facing an unprecedented level of scrutiny about the veracity of his life story. Carson has questioned whether the issues dogging him over his autobiography are important to the nation’s search for the next president. The retired neurosurgeon is likely to face similar questions during Tuesday’s presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(corrects victim’s gender to male, not female)

Rescue crews from Lewis and Griswold responded late Sunday morning to a report of a single-vehicle, personal injury accident, east of Lewis. The call about a maroon Chevy pickup in the ditch near 600th and Oxford Road, came in at around 11-a.m. One person, an adult male, was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, in Atlantic. Additional details were not available late Sunday afternoon.