Kaylle receives the gift of hearing thanks to school advocates, Cochlear Americas and the Ear Community Organization

Kaylle, Cochlear Baha 6 recipient through Ear Community, August 2024.

Meet Kaylle Perez, a happy little 2nd grader living in North Carolina, attending Cabarrus County Schools! Kaylle was born with unilateral microtia and atresia of her right ear. With Kaylle being in elementary school now, surrounded by peers and sounds in the school classroom, she realized she was struggling to hear everything clearly, including in conversations with her family. Kaylle’s school audiologist, Dr. Hannah Bell, also realized Kaylle was struggling with her hearing at school and informed Kaylle’s, mother, Mirena, of a hearing device that would help Kaylle hear better. After learning about a bone conduction hearing device, also known as a bone anchored hearing system, Kaylle’s mom began the process to obtain this hearing device for her daughter, but was denied insurance coverage for a hearing device.

Once learning how much a bone conduction hearing device would cost out of pocket, Mirena began looking for help through Kaylle’s school services, trying to help her daughter hear better. Mirena found help in Kaylle’s school interpreter, Teresita, spending countless hours filling out grant applications and scholarships, trying to find someone, anyone, that would help Kaylle obtain a hearing device. Sadly, only denials to hearing nothing back were the responses received. After seeing how much Mirena and Kaylle were struggling to obtain a bone anchored hearing device, Kaylee’s educational audiologist, Dr. Bell, wanted to see if she could find a way to help. After being inspired by their dedication in pursuing a device, Dr. Bell found our Ear Community Organization in her search! Dr. Bell worked with Kaylle and her mom one more time on an application for a hearing device. After receiving Kaylle’s application for a hearing device, Ear Community’s board voted to help Kaylle her hear!

On August 2nd, 2024, with the help of Cochlear Americas and the Ear Community Organization, together, Kaylle received a NEW Baha 6 bone conduction hearing system to help her hear better! A special thank you to Dr. Hannah Bell for following her passion and pressing on to help others hear as an audiologist! Dr. Bell says, “Mirena and Kaylle have reminded me why I love Audiology, which is why I went into this field – to help people hear!” Thank you to Dr. Nicole Pettine for fitting and programming Kaylle’s Baha 6! Dr. Pettine was able to fit and program Kaylle’s Baha 6 thanks to the help of Ear Community’s Pax’s Ear Fund program covering this audiology fitting expense that was also denied by insurance. Most of all, thank you to Kaylle’s mom, Mirena, for advocating for her daughter’s well being and for what is needed to help Kaylle thrive in school and in everyday life when it comes to hearing her best! Mirena says, “Kaylle deserves the ability to hear like her peers. She deserves to hear from the left and the right. She deserves to be an eight-year-old little girl with no worries about hearing things incorrectly or at all. She deserves not to worry about money and to hear as well as her siblings do!”

Ear Community is grateful for the help it receives when joining together to help community members, like Kaylle, hear their best! Thank you to Cochlear Americas for donating a Baha 6 for Kaylle! A special thank you to Taylor Snow, Content Marketing Manager at Cochlear Americas, for helping Kaylle receive the gift of hearing through our organization to Dr. Pettine! Cochlear is the global leader in implantable hearing solutions, and has provided more than 750,000 implantable devices – more than any other company – helping people of all ages to hear and connect with life’s opportunities. Since 2011, Cochlear Americas is a proud Platinum Sponsor to the Ear Community Organization, helping the microtia and atresia community. Thank you Cochlear Americas  for being a leading company behind the hearing device technology that helps children like Kaylle benefit when it comes to restoring hearing loss! Children and adults with microtia and atresia can only benefit from the use of a bone conduction hearing device because of specific related conductive hearing loss.

The world is a better place when the community pulls together to help give back to those in need! All of us at Ear Community hope Kaylle has an incredible start to the school year hearing her best with her new Baha 6! #HearNowAndAlways

Thank you,
Ear Community