{"id":98018,"date":"2026-01-05T14:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/?p=98018"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:47:16","slug":"law-would-require-hearing-tests-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/2026\/01\/05\/law-would-require-hearing-tests-in-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Would Require Hearing Tests in Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ramzy Fahmy, Oklahoma Voice<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 A Tulsa lawmaker is pushing for a new law that would require public schools to begin conducting routine hearing tests for children in kindergarten through third grade in an effort to boost literacy rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the plan has faced pushback from some state and national groups, who argue that while the hearing screenings would be beneficial, it\u2019s critical that the state\u2019s required guidelines adhere to best practice and be funded adequately so as not to harm local schools and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, said she filed House Bill 2188<\/a> last session after talking with pediatric audiologists in her district. She believes that undiagnosed hearing loss is likely preventing some students from succeeding academically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t learn to read by the third grade, then you can\u2019t read to learn,\u201d Blancett said. \u201cIt becomes a significant barrier to success in school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s pressing for Oklahoma to join the 70% of states<\/a> that already require some type of hearing screenings for school-aged children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While over 98% of infants are screened for hearing issues at birth, the testing cannot flag certain types of pediatric hearing loss, including late-onset or progressive, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association<\/a>, which represents over 200,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists and scientists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nationally, about 15% of children suffer from hearing loss when they enter school, according to the group. But failure to detect it impacts speech and language development and harms children\u2019s academic, emotional and social outcomes, according to the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim Richardson, a licensed hearing instrument specialist with more than 20 years of experience at Lucid Hearing in Edmond, said cost is a barrier that keeps many families from receiving early screenings and intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Screenings cost from $250 to $350 if someone has to pay out of pocket, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost insurance doesn\u2019t cover hearing screenings, which is why people put them off,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Huff, Doctor of Hearing Care by Hugh, an Edmond-based business, said that hearing screenings are only effective if schools are properly trained in how to administer them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScreenings should happen, but schools must be equipped,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout consistency across districts, the results become unreliable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to properly conduct the screenings was a concern for five high-profile groups, including Hearts for Hearing, the Academy of Audiology, and the Oklahoma Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The groups opposed Blancett\u2019s legislation during the 2025 legislative session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the three did not respond to requests for comment, Blancett provided a letter the groups sent lawmakers in February. They wrote that while they \u201cunequivocally support the expansion of hearing screenings\u201d using evidence-based screening models, they worried about the \u201csignificant, unintended negative consequences\u201d of House Bill 2188.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those were a requirement to use a tablet-based program that the audiologists said is not consistent with \u201cevidence-based methods recognized for childhood hearing screenings by nationally recognized clinic practice guidelines.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groups also expressed concern about the financial burden to Oklahoma\u2019s education system and immediate workforce supply challenges that would be required to accommodate increased testing and referrals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also urged lawmakers to first study legislation passed in other states that already require such testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blancett said it is unlikely that she\u2019ll continue to pursue House Bill 2188 during the 2026 legislative session, which starts in February. But she said she\u2019ll continue to press for student hearing screenings and will continue to work with stakeholders to develop best-practice legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a critical need that\u2019s not being met,\u201d Blancett said. \u201cMy hope is that at some point, this gets across the line so we can give kids and teachers the resources they need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ramzy Fahmy, Oklahoma Voice OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 A Tulsa lawmaker is pushing for a new law that would require public schools to begin conducting routine hearing tests for children in kindergarten through third grade in an effort to boost literacy rates. But the plan has faced pushback from some state and national groups, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8368],"tags":[8437,5361],"class_list":["post-98018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oknews","tag-oklahoma-legislature","tag-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}