#hearnicaragua
ensuring good hearing in the long-term
This project is a prime example of successful cooperation between a local non-profit organization, a university, and an international foundation. Specialists from Nova Southeastern University in the USA, the Nicaragua-based NPO Los Pipitos, and the Hear the World Foundation are working together with the aim of improving the hearing of 125 children by 2019.
Place & Year
Project Partners
Nova Southeastern University, Department of Audiology (Florida)Support
Main Focus

Long-term hearing healthcare
The local non-profit organization Los Pipitos looks after people with disabilities and organizes regular hearing screenings. Up to now, however, they have never had the means to provide and fit hearing aids for children affected by hearing loss or to guarantee follow-up care. So this is where the Hear the World Foundation comes in, with a donation over five years of hearing aids, batteries and audiological equipment.
Aftercare by locals
The children’s audiological treatment is provided by students and professors from the Department of Audiology at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, who travel to Nicaragua once a year. Local Los Pipitos staff then take over again to provide the follow-up care.

Involving the families is essential
What makes this project particularly sustainable is that Los Pipitos’ employees are given training and help to ensure that they can provide follow-up care and make any necessary repairs to hearing aids on site. Thanks to state-of-the-art tele-audiology solutions, they can rely on continuous support from the team at Nova Southeastern University. The parents of the affected children are involved too: they are taught how to handle and apply the hearing aids correctly, when to take them out, and why hearing is so important for speech development.