Imagine if every otologist/neurologist cultivated a sustainable global project during their career? With over 300 neurotologists in the United States alone, the impact would be monumental, supporting countries around the world with the skills and resources they need to prioritize hearing health in their local communities. Sustainable outreach and long-term partnership in the humanitarian sphere is a social responsibility we strive to cultivate amongst our fellows and physicians. We are working to model this ethos and develop resources such as our Global Hearing Health Coordination Center that support a movement of volunteers in the fields of otology and audiology. We hope to increasingly unite hearing health professionals around the world in dedicating their time and expertise to solve the global hearing health crisis.

The coordination of humanitarian efforts to provide hearing care, early diagnosis, surgical intervention, and other treatments in low-to-middle-income countries is often sporadic and decentralized. A platform that systematically connects hearing health professionals with sustainable opportunities to serve and train local healthcare workers while doing so, has never before existed. Our answer to this is the Global Hearing Health Coordination Center.

Global Hearing Health Coordination Center  

We just launched a web-based coordination center that will grow over time to offer a comprehensive list of sustainable humanitarian projects and volunteer possibilities in the fields of otology and audiology. Its purpose is to increase knowledge of and involvement in existing programs, highlight current needs and research opportunities, encourage collaboration around the world, and support the assembly of high-performing, cross-functional teams who make a lasting commitment to invest in these programs.

Our Global Hearing Health Coordination Center is expanding! If you are familiar with otology or audiology programs that may meet our sustainability criteria, please support the development of our new resource by sharing more information here.

Powerful Partnerships: Service Project Trips to Nicaragua  

We partner with a clinic in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to offer ear and hearing care. Our return to international medical missions occurred in September 2023 with a week-long trip to to fit pediatric hearing aids. We served 82 patients, primarily children, while there. This is the foundation for a long-term partnership and annual trips. We look forward to returning this year to offer audiology services and train local healthcare workers. We are currently assessing other partnerships so that we can expand our reach and send our global health team to other parts of the world in need of ear and hearing care as well.

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