Science and Medicine
MARION DOWNS
Marion Downs is a renowned pediatric audiologist whose pioneering work in newborn hearing screening led to a universal program that today screens 95 percent of all newborns in America.
Convinced that early detection and intervention could help nurture speech and language skills during critical development years, she was the first audiologist to venture into the newborn nursery and test whether newborn babies could hear. She developed the first infant hearing screening program in 1963 and spent more than 30 years persuading her peers to adopt the test in hospitals and place hearing aids on infants who showed hearing loss. Her success in alerting the medical profession to the developmental problems of children with hearing loss helped establish newborn hearing screening programs in nearly all 50 states and in many foreign countries.
She is a Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center where, for more than 35 years, she provided clinical services to benefit patients with hearing loss. An exemplary teacher, she has lectured throughout the United States and in 15 foreign countries. She has published nearly 100 articles and books, including serving as co-author of Hearing in Children, a seminal textbook for audiologists-in-training. She earned a B.A. from the University of Minnesota, an M.A. from the University of Denver, and was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Colorado, the University of Northern Colorado, and the Arizona School of Health Sciences.
Marion received prestigious awards from the American Academy of Audiology, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the American Medical Association. She was the founder of the American Auditory Society and among the founders of the International Audiology Society. She was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
In recognition of her outstanding professional career, The Marion Downs Hearing Center was established at the University of Colorado Medical Center in 2005. The Center provides diagnostic, early intervention and family-centered programs for individuals with hearing loss and for the families and professionals who work with them.
Still active at the age of 97, Marion skied until she was 95 and won five gold medals for tennis at the national Senior Games. In 2007, she published “Shut Up and Live: A 93-Year-Old’s Guide for Living.” She is the mother of 3 children, grandmother of 11, and great-grandmother of 25.