Sweet Sounds of a Brighter Future
Morgan is obsessed with the movie, Frozen, and loves riding her bike and playing outside. Every song she sings, each dinner conversation, her giggles with friends — they’re all precious. That’s because Morgan, 4, was born deaf.
“She failed her newborn hearing screening, but the doctors weren’t concerned,” recalls Morgan’s dad, Ryan. But a thorough evaluation a few weeks later determined that Morgan had profound hearing loss in both ears.
“It was crushing and overwhelming,” says Ryan. “We had so many worries about her future.”
They met with Tracey Ambrose, AuD, a lead audiologist at Children’s National Hospital. Morgan was a candidate for cochlear implants and had the procedure when she was 9 months old.
“Tracey was so compassionate and answered all of our ‘what-if’ questions without hesitation,” says Ryan. “We felt so lucky to have her by our side.”
Morgan adjusted to her implants right on schedule. She heard her dads say “I love you” for the first time right before Christmas. A few weeks later she celebrated her first birthday.
Since then, she has worked with a speech-language pathologist and an auditory verbal specialist. Morgan’s speech is excellent and her progress has exceeded expectations.
“Thanks to the team at Children’s National, hearing loss won’t hold our daughter back,” says Ryan. “The world is open for her and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
Morgan's Care Team Departments
Care Team
- Lead Audiologist
Tracey Ambrose
Locations
Languages
- English
Departments
- Balance and Vestibular Program
- Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine Center
- Cochlear Implant and Hearing Restoration Program
- Hearing and Speech
Biography
Tracey Ambrose, AuD, CCC-A, is a lead audiologist at Children’s National Hospital for the past eight years with a focus on underserved populations in hearing health. She has a background rooted in research starting with her fellowship for her AuD, at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where they participated in monitoring ototoxic medication and hearing loss treatment. More recently in her career as a department lead, she has focused Children's National providers on best practice protocols and continued clinical research to improve their specialty within the medical field. In 2021 the hospital was awarded a LEND grant with the audiology department as a key component to the team where she is a faculty member. Ambrose partook in training residents and fellows at Children's National and has been part of presentations at national conventions including, SENTAC, ASHA, AAO and NBASLA. She participated in research/mission trip to St. John and St. Thomas USVI as the team audiologist at the height of Zika outbreak and follow-up trip. The team was assembled by the CDC from across the country with specialists to research effects of Zika virus in this population but evolved into a return trip to address the disparity in specialty services available on the islands after the hurricane forced many to leave. Ambrose is the audiology representative for American Academy of Audiology (AAA) ASLP-IC Legislative Summit to increase access for patients between states by developing inter-state compacts. She is in great standing in the pediatric audiology field and have been a peer reviewer for national journal Acta Oto-Laryngological and for updated AAA Audiological Guidelines for the assessment of hearing in infants and young children.
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