World Hearing Day

Across the globe, including right here in the United States, there are millions of children, teenagers, adults and elderly individuals who are living in a muffled-sounding world. Whether it is due to a lack of insurance, a lack of money, a lack of resources or simply living in a region where hearing healthcare services are non-existent, people all over the world are living more difficult lives because of a lack of access to proper hearing healthcare. In extremely remote regions, people may endure through a lifetime of hearing loss without ever knowing that opportunities are out there to help them hear and live in a much clearer world. But what if they didn’t have to go through these unnecessary struggles with hearing loss?

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at a few different non-profit organizations that are all dedicated to providing some form of audiological services to those in need who currently have no or limited access to such services. Sometimes these organizations might just simply provide hearing aid instruments and other resources for low income families that can’t afford them, while other times organizations may travel to remote areas around the world to provide more hands-on services such as ear cleanings or screenings to people who have absolutely no access to any form of such care in their own towns or villages. With a multitude of ways in which all these organizations provide assistance to those with hearing loss, there are two things that definitely remain congruent about each organization identified below: 1) Their dedication to improving the lives of those suffering from hearing loss, and 2) They can always use more help!

  

  • Hear The World Organization: Headquartered in Steinhausen, Switzerland, this amazing Swiss organization provides various services to people living with hearing loss across the globe, with a particular focus on helping young children living in low-income or rural areas. Some of the services Hear the World offers to those dealing with hearing loss include project funding, providing hearing aids and offering on-site audiological expertise to local individuals in the areas they visit, with a goal of training them so they can provide similar audiological services to the people in their own cities, towns, villages and surrounding areas. If you need visual proof of the amazing work this organization has done over the years, just check out any of their active social media accounts and see for yourself some of the heartwarming stories they’ve posted that detail some of their incredible charitable efforts!

 

  • Sertoma: One of the most established non-profit organizations in the US, Sertoma has been providing an abundance of hearing healthcare services to Americans with hearing loss for over a century. Originally founded in 1912 in Kansas City, MO, this well-established organization has continued to grow over the past 108 years and now has at least one “club” in nearly every state across the country. With an overall mission “To improve the quality of life today for those at risk or impacted by hearing loss through education and support”, Sertoma offers a wide variety of services including hosting events to raise awareness about hearing loss, raising money to donate to low-income families impacted by hearing loss, offering scholarships to students with hearing loss and so SO much more!

 

  • Hearing The Call: Providing hands-on assistance to individuals with hearing loss both at home here in the US and to underprivileged communities abroad, this incredible organization does tremendous charity work to help improve the lives of individuals forced to deal with the rigors of hearing loss. HTC provides opportunities for audiologists, ENT doctors, students and other volunteers to travel to countries including Jordan, Palestine, Zambia, South Africa, Guatemala and Ecuador among others to provide various hearing healthcare services to people who don’t have the means to obtain such care on their own. With over 15 different offices scattered across the US, you don’t have to go on an international trip to assist HTC with your time, talents or donations, although we’re sure that they could certainly use your assistance with any of their projects abroad as well!

 

  • Dogs For Better Lives: Passionate about your love for dogs AND helping individuals with hearing loss? Then look no further, as we’ve found the perfect non-profit organization for you! Originally founded in southern Oregon as “Dogs For The Deaf”, an organization that took dogs out of shelters and trained them to assist individuals affected by hearing loss, this marvelous non-profit has grown into Dogs For Better Lives as the organization now trains furry friends to assist with more than just individuals dealing with the challenges associated with hearing loss. Rest assured however that while they may now train dogs for other purposes, such as to help kids with autism or to assist teachers, physicians and counselors in the workplace, Dogs For Better Lives remains as committed as ever to rescuing dogs from shelters to train them as “Hearing Dogs” for individuals with hearing loss in need of canine assistance!

 

While there are hundreds (if not thousands) of other non-profits that are assuredly just as worthy of your assistance as the four organizations identified above, these are just a few organizations whose missions hit a little closer to home with us, and we hope to help raise awareness for all their tremendous causes. They’re all more than deserving of your time, assistance or money if you have the means to contribute any such resources to their causes, as we hope that you’ll look more into partnering with such organizations in the future whenever the chance presents itself so we can all play a part in helping to improve the world’s hearing!