Hearts for Hearing Blog

Children

Hearts for Hearing receives $5,000 grant from Oklahoma City Community Foundation

“In many cases, these campers – our patients – are the only children in their school classroom or friend group with a cochlear implant or some other type of hearing technology,” says Hearts for Hearing President & CEO Joanna T. Smith, who adds, “At our camp, all children – and many of the volunteer group leaders – rely on technology to hear. It is great to see all these campers interacting, having fun, and making friends with other students who experience the world just like them.” Smith said the iFund grant makes it possible to create such a high-quality camp experience for campers and expressed her gratitude to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation for its continued support.

Read More »
photo of a boy in front of a tree with cochlear implants and an off the ear processor
Children

Rodrigo’s Story

Rodri – as his family calls him – was born prematurely in Venezuela and spent the first weeks of his life in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and, according to his mom, survived thanks to oxygen support and antibiotics. She tells us, “We were told Rodri lost his hearing sometime in his first three months of life due to the antibiotics he had to be given to live.”

Read More »
Photo of Dan Vestal
Adults

Dan’s Story

“We feel like he is aging backwards … everyday he experiences something brand new and exciting to him,” says Jonathan Vestal, son of our newest Patient Hero, Mr. Dan Vestal. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary year, we continue to highlight amazing Hearts for Hearing patient stories – and Mr. Vestal’s story is one that truly is incredibly special.

Read More »
Photo of Josie sitting on a football field in a cheerleading uniform
Children

Josie’s Story

Josie was born at only 25 weeks and weighed one pound, eight ounces when she was delivered. Sadly, her twin brother passed away at 18-days-old. Thankfully, Josie was able to survive her tiny beginning, and she remained in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit for 143 days.

Read More »
two girls stand in front of a fridge filled with soda. The girl on the left is leaning in to whisper a secret to the girl on the right.
Children

Ava and Lilly’s Story

Ava was two when she was diagnosed with bilateral hearing loss, and Lilly was diagnosed with deafness following her newborn hearing screen. Both sets of parents were independently referred to Hearts for Hearing and their little girls received their technology, audiology, and listening and spoken language therapy services through Hearts for Hearing. It was a teacher at their preschool who first introduced them and pointed out that they had something special in common, they each wear hearing technology.

Read More »
audiologist discussing options with male adult patient for custom hearing aid devices
Adults

Parts of Hearing Aids

Parts of Hearing Aids Knowing the parts of your hearing aid can be beneficial for proper care and maintenance.  It can also help you describe

Read More »

Untreated Hearing Loss and Quality of Life

Adult hearing loss often occurs gradually. This can make it more difficult for people to realize there is deterioration or recognize to what extent their hearing has declined. Experiences associated with hearing loss can cause many different frustrations, even difficulties. Let’s review some of the common issues individuals with hearing loss may face and ways to help improve the quality of life for those with untreated hearing loss.

Read More »
Photo of a girl with glasses smiling at the camera. She has dark hair and a light colored top.
Children

Henrietta’s Story

Henrietta experienced hearing loss as a young adult. “Music is her love language,” says Mom, “and my vibrant, bubbly, gregarious child who loves everybody – and wants to sing and dance with you – found herself in an increasingly silent world. She was in depression.”

Read More »
black and white photo of a young boy with cochlear implants shaking a tambourine
Children

Elijah’s Story

When Elijah was born, he was “absolutely perfect” recalls his mom. “We didn’t think anything of it when he did not pass his newborn hearing screen, and we were told it was probably just fluid in his ear.” Elijah was referred for a routine follow-up which again he did not pass. “Even then, it wasn’t scary for me because we didn’t have any hearing loss in our family, so we didn’t think it was even a possibility.”

Read More »
a black and white photo of a girl with dark curly hair infront of a window
Stories

Lily’s Story

“I’m told I was a feisty one,” says Lily Hernandez, “a stubborn one,” she adds. “Tami Elder was my Listening and Spoken Language Specialist. I remember all the games we played with my family in therapy. She was very patient and fun.” That’s how Lily fondly recalls her early speech therapy sessions at Hearts for Hearing when she was a toddler.

Read More »

Newsletter Signup

Name