Wisconsin Sound Beginnings: Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program
Wisconsin Sound Beginnings announcements
Registration is now open for Learn Together Play Together, a family event, June 12-14, 2026.
Register today for this multiday camp focused on fun and practical strategies to promote communication skills in kids, ages 0–5, who are deaf or hard of hearing and the people who love them. This is an inclusive experience meant for families including siblings and extended family too! The event is hosted by Wisconsin Sound Beginnings of Wisconsin’s Newborn Screening Program in partnership with the Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WESP-DHH) and held at UW-Whitewater.
Wisconsin Sound Beginnings (WBS)
Wisconsin's State’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, ensuring that all babies born in Wisconsin are screened for hearing loss, receive timely diagnosis of hearing loss and receive quality early intervention. WSB strives to ensure Wisconsin meets the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing recommendations for newborn hearing screening and intervention.
These goals are known as the 1-3-6 model: babies are screened by 1 month of age; diagnosed by 3 months of age; and receive early intervention services by 6 months of age.
WSB monitors, manages and measures Wisconsin’s hearing screening, loss-to-follow-up, diagnosis, and early intervention referral through its web-based data system, WETRAC.
WSB works to:
- Ensure all babies are screened or have documented refusal
- Reduce Loss to Follow-Up (LTFU) for babies who did not pass their newborn hearing screening
- Improve the time to diagnosis for babies who need diagnostic services
- Reduce loss to follow-up and improve outcomes for babies referred to early intervention
Wisconsin Sound Beginnings will identify all babies with hearing loss by working as a team to increase the number of Wisconsin infants who are screened and receive timely, individualized follow-up care.
We will increase access to hearing-related services by nurturing existing collaborations and forging new ones and providing innovative outreach and nonbiased education to families, healthcare providers, and community partners.
By advancing early hearing detection and quality interventions, we provide children the opportunity to develop communication skills, cognitive abilities, and social-emotional well-being.
All families will have equal access to a seamless system of early and continuous hearing screening, skilled, and timely diagnostics and quality interventions to enable children with hearing loss to thrive.
- We meet families where they’re at without judgment or bias.
- We drive change and decision-making through the use of sound and valid data collection.
- We work on behalf of the well-being of children and strive to optimize their potential.
- We are dedicated to innovative development and sustainable solutions.
- We respect ourselves, our team, our clients and our community.
- We forge new and nurture existing creative collaborations and promote partnerships.
- We value parent perspectives in family support, program design, and process improvement.
Sound Futures by Sound Beginnings
We are excited to share videos of successful young adults with hearing loss in order to to give parents of newly identified infants who are deaf or hard of hearing, a glimpse into their child’s potential future. Thank you to all those involved! Interesting in being interviewed to inspire others? Let us know!
For more information reach out to the Newborn Screening Program by phone 608-334-0382 or email at DHSNewbornScreening@dhs.wisconsin.gov.