![Insurance doesn't always cover hearing aids for kids](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/01/10/89a04a36-0e55-48d5-9e2e-380cbf0170c8/thumbnail/1200x630g2/ce6120c7dfd1cbef9f184b5d4c6bee26/emory-promo.jpg?v=ae9b993fd90e26d2b155463d98235421)
Insurance doesn't always cover hearing aids for kids
CBSN
Joyce Shen was devastated when doctors said her firstborn, Emory, hadn't passed her newborn hearing screening. Emory was diagnosed with profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears as an infant, meaning sounds are extremely muffled.
But Shen and her husband, who live in Ontario, California, faced a horrible situation. Without intervention, they were told, their baby daughter's hearing impairment would prevent her from acquiring age-appropriate language skills and likely leave her with developmental problems affecting her education. Pediatric hearing aids can look like modified earbuds and sometimes come in pink, blue, and other bright colors. The ones Emory needed can cost more than $6,000 a pair, and she would require a new pair about every three years as her ears grow. But the family's work-based insurance does not cover those costs.
Shen said she knows all too well what's at stake for her daughter, who was born in February 2023. "If she had hearing aids, I could start all the speech therapy right now, get her access to most of the sounds. But right now, I can't do anything. Just waiting."
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206120759.jpg)
Since ChatGPT was released just over two years ago, its use everywhere from the workplace to academia has expanded significantly. In schools across the country, teachers and administrators have been grappling with how to contend with this new tool. While some say it has benefits, others point out the negatives, like cheating.