2015 Health Care Champions Audiology Specialist: Kristine Grbac-Schomaker

Whether advocating for newborn hearing screenings or helping older adults with hearing loss, Kristine Grbac-Schomaker’s work always is rewarding.

“My role in the overall picture of health care in the Ozarks is unique in that I serve both the global newborn population and adult individuals with acquired hearing loss,” says audiologist Grbac-Schomaker.

After receiving her master’s in audiology from the University of Kansas and earning her certification in the field in 1989, Grbac-Schomaker returned to her undergraduate alma mater of Missouri State University to help start a graduate program in audiology. Training students required a clinic, and it was Grbac-Schomaker’s job to build it.

“Over the next 10 years, the clinic grew,” she says. “In addition to developing my own clinical skills, I also had to become a teacher as the department began to admit graduate students.

“Here I learned much about education – how to teach, how to ensure knowledge of basic concepts and then build on those concepts, how to help students become independent thinkers and how to provide constructive feedback.”

In the late 1990s, Grbac-Schomaker was put on a task force charged with advocating for legislation requiring universal newborn hearing screenings.

“It had long been known that children with significant hearing loss were often not identified until after they failed to develop speech and language,” she says. “This was sometimes as late as 3 to 4 years of age. I worked with many of these children myself in the university clinic. It was frustrating to know that these children would face barriers to speech and language development that they might not ever overcome.”

It was commonly believed that identifying hearing loss by 18 months was early enough, but that changed about 15 years ago when it was discovered children benefit the most when hearing impairment is detected before they are 6 months old, Grbac-Schomaker says. It was a victory when Missouri passed a law in 2002 mandating universal newborn hearing screenings.

“This program made a huge difference for many hearing-impaired children and their families,” she says. “When early identification of hearing loss is partnered with early provision of intervention services, children stand a much greater chance of developing speech and language normally.”

Although Grbac-Schomaker no longer works in the MSU clinic, she is still involved with the Missouri Newborn Hearing Screening Program. Under oversight of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Grbac-Schomaker works as an audiology consultant for MNHSP through a contract between DSS and MSU.

“I have had to find ways to educate hospitals about the importance of doing a good job,” she says.

Grbac-Shomaker also owns Hearing and Audiology Services LLC, a Bolivar-based practice she took over and expanded into Springfield, which focuses on adults.

“I help local patients by providing complete hearing evaluation, thorough explanation of results and the tools needed to make good decisions,” Grbac-Schomaker says. “My professional motivation comes from a desire to continually educate myself so that I can continue to improve in my efforts to provide effective education to others.”