Why you should help
The Ear Foundation was first set up in 1989 to bring the new technique of cochlear implantation to the UK, offering useful hearing to profoundly deaf children. The Ear Foundation is a unique charity providing support for children across the UK with cochlear implants and hearing aids – through information, community education, resources, and research & development.
In the UK around 800 children per year are born profoundly deaf, and a number of others become deaf through accident or illness. Profound deafness makes it difficult for a child to learn how to talk, read and write through the usual path of hearing, which affects their ability to participate fully in family and social life.
For these children, modern technology including either a hearing aid or a cochlear implant, may help. The fitting of the technology is only the start. In order to benefit from the implant, the children, their families and their local professionals (for example teachers of the Deaf, speech and language therapists) need ongoing training and resources, not offered by statutory services.
The Ear Foundation offers a bridge between the clinic-based audiology services and the child’s own community, by providing education and support for those living and working with the children on a daily basis. This ensures the children can use their new hearing in their everyday lives, where the majority of them are now attending mainstream schools and are joining fully in family life.
Over 3,500 children and young people in the UK now have cochlear implants, representing over half profoundly deaf children. Despite this high figure, The Ear Foundation receives no statutory support and it relies a great deal on donations and grants.
Any support that you are able to give us would be very much appreciated.