The recipient of the 2018/19 Richard Seewald Award is the World Wide Hearing Foundation International (World Wide Hearing)—a Montreal, Canada-based nonprofit that develops innovative models to increase access to hearing aids and services to children—the Hear the World Foundation announced. The annual prize by Sonova’s Hear the World Foundation honors outstanding aid projects benefiting people in need with hearing loss around the world. World Wide Hearing has been a Hear the World Foundation project partner since 2016.
Dr Richard Seewald is handing over the Award to World Wide Hearing Executive Director Audra Renyi and her team.
According to the Foundation’s announcement, undetected hearing loss in children, even mild hearing loss, can delay the development of speech and language skills and limit school performance and can lead to a life of social isolation, poverty, and higher risk of poor mental health.
Outstanding project work honored
The Hear the World Foundation honors the project work of World Wide Hearing led by Executive Director Audra Renyi.
“The 2018 Richard Seewald Award is handed over to World Wide Hearing in recognition of the exceptional leadership, expertise, and passion in developing and delivering sustainable hearing health care and rehabilitation services to children in Peru,” said Professor Dr Richard Seewald, member of the Hear the World Foundation’s Advisory Board.
“Thank you so much for this recognition! It means the world to us,” said Renyi. “Our work in Peru would not be possible without the support of Hear the World and without our Director of Programs, Youla Pompilus-Touré, and her local team who have done an outstanding job.”
Capacity built in in Lima and across Peru
World Wide Hearing implements hearing care programs to ensure that children from low-income families receive hearing health care. Children identified with hearing loss are fitted with high-quality hearing aids and receive long-term care. Since 2016, World Wide Hearing—with funding, hearing aids, and expertise from the Hear the World Foundation—has reportedly trained local technicians, speech therapy students, and volunteers (in total more than 100 professionals) to conduct hearing screenings and has screened 20,000 children. The short-term aim is to screen 30,000 children aged 5-18 by March 2019. In the long run, World Wide Hearing and the Hear the World Foundation are hoping the Ministries of Health and Education will take over the screening program enabling local audiologists, technicians, and speech therapists to provide all children with hearing health care and access to hearing aids.
About the Hear the World Foundation
Founded in 2006 by Sonova, a provider of hearing solutions, the Hear the World Foundation supports disadvantaged people with hearing loss around the world and gets involved in hearing loss prevention. The foundation focuses particularly on projects for children with hearing loss, enabling them to develop at their fullest potential. Since its establishment, the nonprofit Swiss foundation has supported over 80 projects in 39 countries with funding, hearing aid technology, and expertise. More than 100 high-profile ambassadors, such as Bryan Adams, Cindy Crawford, Plácido Domingo, Annie Lennox, and Bruce Springsteen support the work of the Hear the World Foundation. www.hear-the-world.com
Source: Hear the World Foundation
Image: Hear the World Foundation
