CHCS Perspectives Winter 2014

PERSPECTIVES • WINTER 2014 – Page 18 The boy sitting across from me was nine years old and had never worn hearing aids. With a deaf right ear and a moderate loss in the left ear, understanding those around him must have been a constant strain. He watched me curiously as I programmed his new hearing aid and put it in place. His eyes widened. As I asked him to repeat back some words, which he did well, he started to cry. “What are you feeling?” asked his mother, who also had tears in her eyes. “I’ve never felt anything like this.” he answered. Then he ran around the desk and threw his arms around me. It was one of many emotional moments during a recent medical mission trip to Guatemala with NSU adjunct professor Fred Rahe, Au.D., and my fellow class of 2015 doctor of audiology students Alexis Cohan and Julia Fahrney. We worked with Centro de Audicion (CEDAF), directed by Patricia Castellanos de Muñoz, Au.D., to fit hearing aids and screen preschool children in Guatemala City. Fahrney helped evaluate several infants and toddlers who had risk factors for hearing loss. For a two-year-old undergoing chemother- apy, auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing yielded good news. “The chemo didn’t damage his hearing,” said Fahrney. “It must have been a huge relief for his parents after everything they had already been through.” For Cohan, one of the most memorable moments was fitting hear- ing aids on a five-year-old girl who had a severe hearing loss and did not speak. Once her instruments were turned on, the girl’s mother encouraged her to say “mama.” “Baba,” the girl answered. CEDAF specialist Christa Mury de Tobar, who holds an audiology assistant certificate from NSU, placed the girl’s hand on her cheek to feel the voicing of the “m” sound. After a few more tries, she got it: “Mama.” “It was amazing to watch a mother hear her child speak for the first time,” Cohan said. “The mom was crying; I was crying. I will never forget it.” During our first two days in Guatemala, the team fit patients with 72 hearing aids. On the third day, we traveled to a preschool to screen children ranging in age from four to six. “The NSU team did a phenomenal job, screening over 900 kids in two days,” said Dr. Rahe. “These kids would not have been tested otherwise. There is no telling when, if ever, those with hearing loss would have been identified.” About four percent of the preschool children we screened were referred for full evaluations at the CEDAF clinic. It’s likely several will eventually be fit with hearing aids, which will improve their language development and odds of academic success as they move on to pri- mary school. As audiology students, it was an extremely rewarding experience and also a privilege to apply our skills in helping the peo- ple of Guatemala. “The team served an important role as ambassadors to this Cen- tral American country,” said Dr. Rahe. “In a part of the world where Americans may not always be highly regarded, the team members proudly represented their profession and country, establishing friend- ship one child at a time.” Helping the Hearing Impaired in Guatemala NSU Team Assists Guatemalan Foundation With Hearing Health Care By Sherry Rauh, M.A., Class of 2015 Doctor of Audiology Student Alexis Cohan fitting a child with amplification. Audiology FORT LAUDERDALE