Challenge
In Brazil, over 16% of school children are affected by hearing loss. Without early diagnosis and intervention, these children lack the foundation for healthy cognitive and social development. This makes it difficult for them to attend school, access education, and later pursue a career or lead an independent life. Targeted support is crucial, especially in the first two years of life, as this is when the most important language skills are learned.
Professionals must be able to recognize hearing loss in children early. However, in Brazil, audiology training is currently entirely theoretical without practical training opportunities. There is also a lack of specialization in pediatric audiology and speech therapy. Since infants and toddlers cannot express what they hear, diagnosing hearing loss in this age group requires specific skills and methods. Without practical training, many affected children remain untreated and lose critical time in their development.
How we help
To ensure that audiology students can care for children in the future, they receive practical training, either on-site or via telemedicine. The quality of training is ensured with modern hearing aids and audiological equipment. At the same time, a network for knowledge exchange is being created to improve the long-term care of children with hearing loss.
- Support, development, and improvement of teaching and research in audiology
- Strengthening exchange and collaboration between institutions and professionals
- Annual training of 100 graduates in technical skills such as diagnosis and hearing aid fitting by audiologists
- Bridging the gap between diagnosis and care by providing donated hearing aids to children in need until they receive government support (allocation is done through a nationwide patient registry)
Our Partner
Academia Brasileira de Audiologia (ABA) was founded in 2001 to improve audiology training for professionals. It is affiliated with four universities in São Paulo and operates a training center at each location.