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JOHNNIE SEXTON, LOCAL NATIVE, GIVEN DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD AT ECU
For Immediate Release/January, 2008
John E. Sexton was recently named one of the very first Most Distinguished Alumni of East Carolina University's College
of Allied Health for his global initiative concerning children with hearing loss which has spanned a period of 30 years.
He was honored on October 27, 2007, for his distinguished career and contributions to children around the world who are challenged
with hearing difficulties. Sexton currently resides in Wilmington, NC, where he operates and manages an international consulting
practice specializing in pediatric/educational audiology and assistive technology.
As a child growing up in Garland N.C., Johnnie Sexton worked the Sampson and Bladen County tobacco fields. Sexton went
on to become the first in his family to complete a college degree, after which he chanced upon an internship working with
hearing impaired children. There, Sexton had his first exposure to FM assistive technology, which serves like a miniature
radio station when used in conjunction with hearing aids and cochlear implants. The devices transmit amplified voices while
diffusing background noise. Intrigued by his experiences, Sexton returned to ECU to complete a Masters Degree in Audiology
in the late 1970s.
After first serving as a speech therapist in Sampson County Schools, Sexton was hired through a federal grant to develop
the model for screening, diagnosing and serving children in all of North Carolinas public schools. When the grant expired,
he began working in sales and consulting for speech and hearing products, granting first-hand experience with new technologies,
before eventually starting his own Greensboro-based practice (John E. Sexton & Associates, Inc.), which works with over
30 school systems and agencies around the world.
Having succeeded in North Carolina, twelve years ago Sexton joined a campaign to create a world standard for newborns.
Implementing a combination of raw action (adopting 46 Vietnamese children suffering from hearing loss as a model for the country)
and a fervent desire to spread awareness (last year lectured to representatives from 68 countries, delivering the keynote
address to the International Pediatric Symposium in Milan before presenting his symposium in Austria and Denmark to representatives
of 28 countries and finally ending his world tour at the Alexander Graham Bell Association in Pittsburgh), Sexton continues
to broaden the scope of his energy abroad while strengthening his roots: patience, benevolence and southern hospitality.
Quote:The ear is the key that unlocks the world to the brain. Even before we are born, we respond to sound. Hearing literally
is access to most everything you encounter in your life, especially in the early years.
Contact: Johnnie Sexton
910. 254. 0987
johnniesexton@yahoo.com
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PRESS RELEASE
Local Native Does Lecture Tour in Europe
June, 2006
Johnnie Sexton, who grew up in Garland, has just completed a lecture tour in Europe on new technology for hearing impaired
children. He is considered to be one of the worlds foremost authorities on FM wireless technology used to educate children
with hearing loss.
Sexton was invited by the International Newborn Hearing Conference to give a lecture in Italy on the verification of FM
technology with infants and toddlers in early June. He spoke to representatives from 68 countries on this topic. He was
then invited to give a keynote address to the International Pediatric Symposium in Italy as well.
He then traveled on to Vienna, Austria, where he addressed the International Conference on Cochlear Implant Surgeries
and Related Sciences. The lecture topic was focused on use of wireless technology with children who have received cochlear
implant surgery. His lecture was the first ever to present this technology to the international group. His lecture was so
well received that he was invited by the major manufacturer of cochlear implant devices, Cochlear Corporation, to become a
consultant with their product development team in Australia for future product design.
After leaving Austria, Sexton then traveled onto Copenhagen, Denmark, to present two seminars to representatives of 28
countries: Working With Children as a Clinical Experience and Building A Business in Pediatrics. The countries representatives
are all developing nations that have been reluctant to provide services and technology to young children. His purpose was
to encourage them to recognize the need and to find a way to serve all children worldwide who have hearing loss.
His June journey ended with a lecture to the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing International
Convention in Pittsburgh.
Sexton began his career in Sampson County many years ago as a speech therapist in the schools. He then went on to complete
a Masters Degree in Audiology. Over the years, he became involved with the establishment of services for hearing impaired
children in the schools in North Carolina. More recently, he has focused his time and energy on newborn hearing screening,
diagnosis and intervention as a world standard. He has lectured on these topics in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand
as well as all over Europe and North America.
His philanthropic efforts now include the establishment of a grant to fund services and equipment to a group of 46 deaf
orphans he has adopted in Danang, Vietnam, where he has visited a number of times. The grant will provide funds to take a
team of experts in hearing loss to the orphanage to train the staff on the services and technology for the children there
who are in need. If successful, this program will serve as a model for a national program in Vietnam to serve all children
across the country.
After living in many places, Sexton has now made his home once again in eastern North Carolina in Wilmington. He continues
to be very involved in his home area, finding the time to do monthly consultation in the Bladen County Schools. In 2 years,
he has assisted Bladen County in establishing a program for the hearing impaired program that now has a staff of teachers
for the hearing impaired as well as interpreters. He has also been instrumental in working with Suzanne Huggins, Assistant
Superintendent, to provide the necessary technology for the hearing impaired students to make them more successful in school.
Sexton owns John E. Sexton & Associates, Inc, which, with a staff of 14 audiologists in North Carolina, provides audiologic
services to over 30 school systems and other agencies who serve children with hearing loss. He also serves as a technology
consultant with Oticon, Inc., both in the U. S. and internationally. Sexton currently is appointed by the Governor to serve
as the audiologist to the North Carolina Hearing Aid Dealers and Fitters Licensure Board.
Sexton is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Sexton of Garland and is a graduate of Garland High School and East Carolina University.
info@johnesexton.com
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