Hear! Hear! Shoeboxes in Peru

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That’s how many times, on a recent trip to Peru, that volunteer staff from CHEO and SHOEBOX said “Raise your hand if you hear a noise.”

Hearing loss is an invisible but very common disability. What happens when you can’t hear your mother and learn language? What happens when you can’t hear your lessons?

But hearing loss is very solvable. That’s why Dr. Matthew Bromwich came up with a shoebox-sized audiometer — after which the company making them is now named — that is changing the world of hearing tests.

In July 2019, 12 CHEO and SHOEBOX volunteers travelled to Lima, Peru to support a World Wide Hearing Foundation international project and perform hearing screenings in local schools. The team worked with a Peruvian audiologist and coordinator to provide more than 3,300 screenings in five days. Now more than 3,000 students will go to school knowing they can get the most out of their education.

The most important part of their trip, says Dr. Bromwich, CHEO ENT Surgeon and SHOEBOX founder, was understanding how this new technology can facilitate screening in existing efforts to provide long-term hearing care. Since 2017, the World Wide Hearing Peru project has screened over 30,000 students, fitting those detected with hearing aids. They’ve also trained 125 Peruvian speech pathology students in hearing screening.

Many places, like Peru or Nunavut, face a shortage of audiologists that make it challenging to identify hearing problems and access hearing care. CHEO, SHOEBOX and World Wide Hearing’s goal is to make hearing care and resources accessible to all children and youth, regardless of where in the world they are.

With SHOEBOX’s iPad Audiometer, anyone can perform a hearing screening test, anywhere. It is helping break down the barriers that keep children and youth in remote locations from accessing quality hearing care and screening. It helps children, youth and adults live their best life — and able to hear the world around them.

Hear! Hear!

Related:

• How a CHEO surgeon's idea is changing hearing testing in the North
• Tech company born at CHEO gives back: donates $150,000 to CHEO