Ethio-American Hearing Project
ETHIO-AMERICAN HEARING PROJECT
ቀስበቀስ፡ እንቁላል፡ በእግሩ፡ ይሄዳል፡፡
Bit by bit, the egg starts to walk
Collaborative & Innovative
Our Projects
Otology and Audiology Training
The Ethio- American Hearing Project, is working to improve communication by providing education and support in Ethiopia to assist in the growth of the community’s ear and hearing services.
We travel to Ethiopia several times a year providing medical care. We offer ear surgeries, hearing test the and fit hearing aids on those in need. Our otologists (ear surgeons) have started an otology fellowship program and our audiologists (hearing specialists) have started an online hearing technician training program. Both are the first of its kind in Ethiopia. When done with their training, the otology fellows are able to provide very delicate and specialized ear surgeries and the hearing technicians will be able to provide comprehensive hearing test and fit hearing aids. Dr. Amin Aman Hagos, the former Minter of Health, allowed us to award our Certificate of Completion for Ethiopian Otology. Home universities for our graduates have sponsored them to register as otologists.
We now have 7 Ethiopian otologist who have successfully completed the program. They are now working as otologists, teaching, and leading the otology program in Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Hawassa, and Mekelle Ethiopia. We routinely add 2 more otology fellows training every 2 years. Our goal is sustainability, and to achieve that we must have education and training in place so that the people of Ethiopia can provide these much needed services to their people.
In addition to ear and hearing services, we are also improving speech and language services for those with hearing loss, including aural re-habilitation for children, as well as the communication training of the Visual Amharic language (cued speech).
Cued Speech/Visual Amharic
Education and Community Development- VISUAL AMHARIC
Visual Amharic/Cued Speech is being taught to all the staff with plans of the students learning Visual Amharic at the Alpha School in Addis Abba. Visual Amharic (Ethiopian Cued Speech) is a visual system of communication used with deaf and hard of hearing people. It's a phonemic-based system which makes traditionally spoken languages accessible by using a small number of handshapes known as cues. The sounds of speech are represented in different positions/locations near the face/mouth to convey spoken language in a visual format. Cued speech is defined as a visual mode of communication that uses hand shapes and placements in combination with the mouth movements and speech to make the phonemes of spoken language look different from each other. Visual Amharic is currently being taught to toddlers, children, parents and other family members in Addis Ababa, Hawassa , and Bahir Dar.
Cued Speech has become an integral part in our deaf and hard of hearing educational program. We have been teaching visual Amharic for a few years; and it has proven to be success. Here is a brief clip of the students stating how visual Amharic has been beneficial to them.
Eduplex Training Institute (ETI) has partnered with the Ethio-American Hearing Project since 2018 and to date trained more than 30 professionals as hearing aid acousticians (hearing specialists) and recently 4 professionals completed additional training in paediatric audiology (hearing specialists for children). Training included online learning combined with practical sessions to ensure that professionals not only have the knowledge but also the skills to make a difference in the communities they serve by providing improved hearing services to adults and children. Services provided by these professionals include hearing testing and fitting of hearing aids for both adults and children as well as educating and raising awareness of hearing loss and hearing disorders within the community. Persons from various regions of Ethiopia including Addis Ababa, Mekelle, Gondar, Hawassa and Bahir Dar took part in the training and often these persons are the only available service provider for hearing disorders in a large region. ETI is proud to be a part of this project as our vision is to make hearing loss invisible worldwide.