Laura Nay was introduced to the original hearing screening kit as a Marketing Director in the 1980’s, and began working for the company in 1988. She acquired the “Hear Kit System” in 1998, after having worked as the marketing director for the screening system for ten years. Laura noticed that when children were given the opportunity to hear things that they couldn't before, their eyes brightened, and thus after researching and updating the sound-makers and business practices, she incorporated Bright Eyes Enterprise and named her updated screening system Music 2 My Ears. Now, with more than three decadesof experience with this screening system, Laura continues to own and oversee all aspects of the company. Her daughter, Trina, just 11 years old when Laura began working in this field, has grown up learning and loving it. Trina earned her Ph.D. in 2009, and now helps manage Bright Eyes Enterprise, Inc.
Woman Owned and Originated
The Hear Kit System was created by Dr. Marion P. Downs, a woman and Audiologist Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She pioneered universal newborn hearing screening in the early 1960s (read more about Dr. Downs below). After acquiring the Hear Kit, and a couple more years of research and revision, Laura Nay received a nodding approval from Dr. Downs, creating the Music 2 My Ears Hearing Screening System. As Laura remains an expert with this system but moves toward retirement as a business woman, former emergency manager, and still current author and artist, she has trained her daughter, Trina who plans to continue to manage the business in hopes to take it to more regions of the United States, and someday more far reaching regions of the world in hopes to help even more people.
Marion P. Downs
Early Work and Education Marion P. Downs is an audiologist and Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Denver, who pioneered universal newborn hearing screening in the early 1960s. She worked from the early 60s until she died in 2014 to alert the medical world on the developmental problems associated with childhood deafness. As a result of her efforts, 95% of all newborns in the United States are screened for hearing loss. She devoted her professional life to the promotion of early identification of hearing loss in newborns, infants, and young children and to helping those with hearing impairment lead fulfilling lives. Downs attended the University of Minnesota (UM) until 1934, and in 1948 finished her course requirements at the University of Colorado. She received a Bachelor’s degree in political science and English from UM. In 1949, she enrolled in graduate school at the University of Denver (DU) and received her Master’s degree in audiology in 1951. She promptly went to work at DU teaching audiology and directing the audiology clinic from 1951 to 1959. At DU, she supervised a contract with the Veteran’s Administration, doing all of the veterans’ speech pathology and audiology exams and hearing aid assessments.
Work and Publications In 1959, she began working as an audiologist in a new ear-nose-and throat (totlaryngology) clinic at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. There, along with Doreen Pollack, she initiated the practice of fitting hearing aids on infants by the age of six months, on the theory that the earlier the remediaton and prevention, the better functioning would be. At the time, most children did not receive hearing aids until two or three years of age. In 1962, she developed an observational test on newborns, which she reported in 1964. Scientific neurological reports confirmed the early remediation theory in the late 1980s and 1990s. Downs worked at the clinic until retiring in 1982. She published two books and over 100 articles on the subject. She has also lectured and taught extensively throughout the United States and overseas (should we just say the world?).
Committees, Texts and Honors
In 1969, the National Joint Committee on Infant Hearing was formed on her recommendation.
This committee was composed of representatives from professional hearing health care organizations, to periodically review and evaluate as well as recommend a “best practices” approach to newborn hearing screening, and has provided multidisciplinary leadership and guidance in all areas of newborn and infant hearing issues.
Downs co-authored Hearing in Children (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins) with J.L. Northern – a textbook for audiology students on how to evaluate and manage children with hearing impairments. The book underwent five editions between 1972 and 2004 and was translated into several foreign languages.
She coauthored Auditory Disorders in School Children with R. Roeser (Thieme), now in its third edition.
The Marion Downs Hearing Center (MDHC) was named in Downs’ honor and opened in May 2005 on the University of Colorado Medical Center campus.
Downs was inducted to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
In 2007 received the Secretary’s Highest Recognition Award at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for her groundbreaking work and lifetime dedication promoting the early identification of hearing problems in children.
Downs received two honorary doctorate degrees: a Doctor of Science from the University of Colorado and a Doctor of Human Services from the University of Northern Colorado
The University of Colorado School of Medicine awarded her the Gold Medal Recognition
The University of Minnesota gave her its Outstanding Achievement Award
She was awarded the Medal of the Ministry of Health of South Vietnam
Outstanding Service Recognition Award from the American Medical Association for her teaching audiology in Vietnam
One of the early members of the International Audiology Society
Program Chair for the International Audiology Congress twice
Marion Downs Hearing Center Foundation was created to support the ever growing programs, services, and research
She has been recognized with honors from nearly every professional hearing-related society including:
American Academy of Audiology
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Society
Community Impact Prior to Marion’s ground-breaking research and the founding of the MDHC, services for children, youth, and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing were fragmented which often required parents of deaf or hard of hearing to move from county to county or move to another city in order to access the programs their child needed. The Marion Downs Hearing Center recognized this gap and now offers individualized programs that teach the children and teenagers the skills to become independent adults, no matter their communication preference. If not for Dr. Downs’ foresight and the knowledge of the importance to screen children early through existing programs like Head Start and other such Early Childhood Intervention programs, Bright Eyes Enterprise, Inc. would not exist today distributing “Music 2 My Ears” Hearing/Screening Systems throughout the nation, each kit potentially screening thousands of children.
