Hearts for Hearing Blog
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.
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.
Masonic Charity Foundation of Oklahoma recently awarded Hearts for Hearing a generous grant of $200,000 to support its Newborn Hearing Screen (NBHS) programs across the state. The newborn hearing screen is a specialized screening performed shortly after birth to help diagnose hearing loss in newborns.
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.”
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.”
Infant Crisis Services (left) and Hearts for Hearing (right) celebrating with the Chick-fil-a cow. Two Oklahoma Nonprofits Named 2023 Chick-fil-A True Inspiration Awards Grant Recipient
Oklahoma City Community Foundation, through its Opportunities for Children iFund grant program, provided $5,000 to support Hearts for Hearing’s annual summer camp which serves children
Michael Goldbeck was diagnosed with profound, bilateral hearing loss when he was 18-months-old in Albuquerque, NM. He was fit with hearing aids and then came
Hearts for Hearing was founded in 2003 with a mission of providing hearing technology and speech therapy services at no out-of-pocket costs to families with children who were born deaf. 20 years later, we are still teaching babies and children born deaf to listen and talk. Our services have expanded to include adult hearing care with offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Shawnee. Our team of professionals has grown from our original three people to 117 now. Hearts for Hearing continues to provide the first set of hearing technology and therapy to children at no out-of-pocket costs to families, and now includes Newborn Hearing Screen services, major research initiatives, Eyes Open Ears On programming, and its own 3D ear mold lab.
