The Centers for Disease Control awarded the $2.8 million grant to the Marion Downs Hearing Center at the University of Colorado hospital so it can expand its critical research. Thirty years ago, Downs pioneered a hearing test that screens newborns for hearing loss. She continues to remain active in her field, even at the age of 91.

Downs says she pushed for fitting hearing aids on infants as young as 6 months. "We were almost ostracized for doing that, because they thought it just wasn't done," she says.

Downs knew that hearing opened the window to learning and language for babies long before science proved it. Today the center she helped develop is recognized nationwide for the broad variety of implants, hearing aids and counseling it offers the hearing impaired.

And now, 95 percent of children are screened for hearing loss at birth. There still isn't an ultrasound test to check babies in the womb. Downs says that could be next.

From KUSA-TV