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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 59th Legislature (2024)
HOUSE BILL 3951 By: Blancett
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to schools; requiring hearing
screening for certain students within certain
timeframe; specifying screening be conducted by
certain personnel; providing for notification of
certain information; directing advisory committee to
make certain suggestions ; providing composition;
directing State Board of Health to adopt certain
rules; requiring State Department of Health to
maintain a statewide registry; recommending ce rtain
students receive certain hearing examination;
requiring certain person to forward written report to
certain parties; specif ying contents of report;
allowing school attendance in event of failure of
certain parties to furnish certain report; providing
for school districts to notify certain parents of
certain requirements; directing the State Board of
Education to adopt certain rules; directing the State
Department of Education to issue c ertain annual
report; providing for codification; and providing an
effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1210.286 of Title 70, unless
there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
As used in this act:
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1. "Audiologist" means a person licensed by the state of
Oklahoma to practice medicine who has a specialty in hearing ;
2. "Board" means the State Board of H ealth;
3. "Commissioner" means the State Commissioner of Health of the
Oklahoma State Department of Health ;
4. "Comprehensive Hearing Exam " means a clinical assessment and
tests administered by a licensed, certified audiologist t o assess a
person's level of hearing as well as detect any abnormality or
diseases;
5. "Department" means the Oklahoma State Department of Health ;
6. “Draining Ear” means an ear is not able to be screened due
to a pustulent drainage from the ear canal;
7. “Equipment” means th e necessary items needed to carry out a
hearing screening pursuant to this legislation and consists of a
tablet computer with audio port ; a clinically validated auditory
assessment tablet-based software that uses both high frequency t ones
and speech-in-noise screening; high resolution headphones that
provide ambient noise attenuation ;
8. "Hearing screening" means the process or system used to
identify children in grades K, 1, 2, 3, 7 and 11
th
grade who may be
at risk of having or deve loping hearing problems that may adversely
affect their ability to acquire knowledg e, skill or learning, for
the purpose of recommending further evalua tion by an audiologist ;
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9. "A hearing screening app" means one that determines relative
auditory pathway integrity for speech un derstanding using speech in
quiet, speech in noise, and tones in noise methods , in addition to
pure tones;
10. "Hearing screening provider(s)" means a person(s) who has
successfully completed hearing screening training using curric ula
approved by the Depa rtment, submitted an application to the
Department, and has been approved by the Department as being a
hearing screening provider ;
11. "Hearing Screening Registry" is a system for collecting and
maintaining in a structured manner t he names of individuals that
have been approved by the Department as hearing screening providers ;
12. "Hearing screening trainer(s)" is a person(s) who has been
approved as a hearing screening provider and completed additional
training approved by the Dep artment to provide training to potential
hearing screening providers;
13. "Infant and Children's Health Advisory Council" means the
advisory council to the Board and Department in the area of infant
and child health including vision and audiology screening;
14. “Middle Ear Pathology: refers to the presence of either
outer ear obstructions by a foreign object and/or middle ear
pressure and/or fluid;
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15. “Noise Induced Hearing Loss” referred to as NIHL is the
loss of hearing sensitivity due to excessive ex posure at damaging
levels of noise;
16. "Pure Tone" means a hearing screening that determines
relative hearing sensitivity for pure tone frequencies. Pure tone
audiometry is recommended for school age chil dren;
17. "Referral" means parent or guardian notification that the
student's screening results indicate a need for a comprehensive
hearing exam by an aud iologist; and
18. "Auditory Administrator" means a state licensed and
certified audiologist with familiarity of pediatrics and/or
educational audiology matters who will ma nage all aspects of the
hearing screening programs regionally, along with the Department of
Health.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1210.287 of Title 70, unless
there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. 1. The parent or guardian of each student enrolled in
kindergarten at a public school or public charter school in this
state shall provide certification to school person nel that the
student passed a hearing screening within the previous six (6)
months or during the school year. Such screening shall be conducte d
by personnel listed on the statewide registry as mainta ined by the
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State Department of Health , which may include, but not be limited
to, Oklahoma-licensed audiologists.
2. The parent or guardian of each student enrolled in first ,
second, third, seventh, and eleventh grade at a public school or
public charter school in this state shall provi de, within thirty
(30) days of the beginning of the sch ool year, certification to
school personnel that the student passed a hearing screening within
the previous six (6) months. Such screening shall be conducted by
personnel listed on the statewide regi stry as maintained by the
State Department of Health; provided, Oklahoma licensed audiologists
shall be exempt from such standards.
3. The parent or guardian of each student who receives a
hearing screening as required by this section shall receive
notification that a hearing screening is not the equivalent of a
comprehensive hearing exam.
B. Hearing screening must, at a minimum, utilize both of the
following hearing screening and/or tests using standard
screening/testing procedures for relative hearing integrity:
1. For school aged children, Speech-In-Noise Testing and high
definition pure tone audiometry on a clinically-validated auditory
assessment tablet-based software that uses both high frequency pure
tones and Speech-In-Noise screening or any new hearing screening
tool determined by the Department to be a comparable screening tool
that utilizes both methods;
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2. Otoacoustic Emission screening can suffice for difficult -to-
test patients; or
3. A child who is unable to be screened within the school
using methods mentione d should be referred to an audiologist.
C. The following hearing acuity criteria shall be used as a
basis for referring a child for further evalua tion by an
audiologist: refer for scoring 76.4 or less on a clinically-
validated tablet-based auditory assessment software using both high
frequency pure tone and speech -in-noise testing for two screenings
(within 24 hours apart) and/or referring the pure tone frequencies,
and/or a draining ear, and/or a refer on an OA .
D. 1. The Infant and Children's Health Advisory Council
created in Section 1-103a.1 of Title 63 of the Okl ahoma Statutes
shall make recommendations to the State Board of Health on:
a. qualifications for initial reco gnition and renewal of
recognition of hearing screeners,
b. qualifications for initial recognition and renewal of
recognition of hearing screener trainers,
c. qualifications for initial re cognition and renewal of
recognition of trainers of hearing screener trainers;
provided, Oklahoma licensed audiologists shall be
exempt from any training requirements,
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d. qualifications for initial recognition and renewal of
recognition of administrators of regi onally based
audiologists, and
e. grounds for denial, refusal, suspension, or revocation
of recognition of hearing screeners, hearing screener
trainers, and trainers of hearing screener trainers.
2. The Department shall:
a. establish and thereaft er maintain a statewide
registry, available via the Internet, which shall
contain a list of approved hearing screeners,
b. maintain a list of approved hearing screener trainers
and trainers of hearing screener trainers,
c. maintain a list of approved auditory administrators,
and
3. After notice and hearing, the Department may deny, refuse,
suspend, or revoke approval to an applicant who has a history of:
a. noncompliance or incomplete or partial compliance with
the provisions of this section or the rules ad opted by
the Board to implement the pro visions of this section,
b. referring persons to a business in which the applicant
has a financial interest or a busines s which is owned
or operated by someone within the third degree of
consanguinity or affinity of t he applicant, or
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c. conduct which demonstrates that the applicant is
providing services in a manner which does not warrant
public trust.
4. The Board, giving consideration to the recommendations of
the Council, shall promulgate rules to implement th e provisions of
this section.
E. 1. The parent or guardian of each student who fails the
hearing screening required in subsection A of this section shall
receive a recommendation to undergo a comprehensive hearing
examination performed by an Oklahoma-licensed audiologist.
2. The Oklahoma licensed audiologist shall forward a written
report of the results of the comprehensive hearing examination to
the auditory administrator regionally designated, the student's
school, parent or guardian, and prim ary health care provider
designated by the parent or guardian . The report shall include, but
not be limited to:
a. date of report,
b. name, address, and date of birth of the student,
c. name of the student's school,
d. type of examination,
e. a summary of significant findings, including
diagnoses, medication used, duration of action of
medication, treatment, prognosis, whether or not a
return visit is recommended and, if so, when,
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f. recommended educational adjustments for the child, if
any, which may includ e: preferential seating in the
classroom, the use of hearing aids, specific
interventions, FM systems, and any other
recommendations, and
g. name, address, credentials, and signature of the
examiner.
F. No student shall be pr ohibited from attending school for a
parent's or guardian's failure to furnish a report of the studen t's
hearing screening or an examiner's failure to furnish the results of
a student's comprehensive hearing examination required by t his
section.
G. School districts shall notify parents or guardians of
students who enroll in kindergarten, first, second, third, seventh,
and eleventh grade for the 2025-2026 school year and each year
thereafter of the requirements of this section.
H. The State Board of Education s hall adopt rules for the
implementation of this section except as provided in subsec tion B of
this section. The State Department o f Education shall issue a
report annually on the impact and effectiveness of this section.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2024.
59-2-9405 MJ 01/18/24