Callier Center To Receive $1.2 Million from Crystal Charity Ball

The Foundation for the Callier Center and Communication Disorders has been selected as one of seven beneficiaries this year of The Crystal Charity Ball (CCB). The award is expected to provide $1.2 million over three years for the Callier Center for Communication Disorders' new Hearing Opportunities for Pediatric Equity (HOPE) Project, which offers hearing care for economically disadvantaged children in Dallas.

The HOPE Project is part of the pediatric clinical care program at The University of Texas at Dallas' Callier Center and fills a critical need by providing hearing aids and follow-up services to underserved children suffering from hearing loss.

Based on prevalence and population data, the Callier Center estimates that approximately 390 newborns are impacted by hearing loss in North Texas each year. Untreated hearing loss is associated with risk for developmental delays. The Callier Center is currently the only facility in the North Texas region that provides comprehensive hearing-loss treatment for all Medicaid-eligible and uninsured families.

"Untreated hearing loss can lead to auditory deprivation, which negatively impacts brain auditory pathway development, delays communication and learning, and creates barriers to social, emotional and academic growth," said Angela Shoup BS'89, MS'92, PhD'94, the Ludwig A. Michael, MD Callier Center Executive Director and a professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Through the HOPE Project, the Callier Center provides children with timely hearing diagnoses, personalized hearing devices and ongoing treatment, ensuring access to life-changing services and eliminating obstacles to children's access to sound to promote auditory development, Shoup said.

In recent years, the center has pioneered efforts to accelerate care for children who need hearing aids. Technicians in the Clinical Innovation Lab create 3D-printed earmolds in-house, reducing production times from two to three weeks to less than six hours; thus, minimizing the gap between patients' diagnoses and when they receive hearing aids.

Once hearing devices are fitted, ongoing care provided through the Callier Center ensures the devices are adjusted as children grow and their hearing needs change, to enhance consistency of access to optimal sound stimulation. Depending on their age, patients may be seen as often as six times a year to support listening and language development.

Crystal Charity funding will enable the Callier Center to provide approximately 400 economically disadvantaged children with personalized hearing aids, including 3D-printed earmolds, as well as performing hearing-aid fittings and comprehensive audiological follow-up care - removing financial obstacles for low-income families.

The funding also augments the Callier Center's hearing-aid loaner program, which has a limited number of devices to provide for temporary use while patients await their personal hearing aids.

"The Callier Center is fortunate to be the recipient of Crystal Charity's generosity," Shoup said. "Because of Crystal Charity's support, hundreds of children in our community who experience hearing disorders will receive the tools and support needed to connect with others and thrive."

"Because of Crystal Charity's support, hundreds of children in our community who experience hearing disorders will receive the tools and support needed to connect with others and thrive."

Angela Shoup BS'89, MS'92, PhD'94, the Ludwig A. Michael, MD Callier Center Executive Director

Since 1963, the CCB has provided $3.4 million to benefit the Callier Center. Those funds established Dallas' first Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device Loaner Bank for Children, provided hearing aids and follow-up services to children from low-income families and helped establish the center's cochlear implant program and camp.

This latest commitment, which is the largest gift Callier has received since the establishment of the Lena Callier Trust - through which Callier was founded in 1963, will bring the CCB's total support to $4.6 million.

The Crystal Charity Ball supports and makes contributions to children's charities in Dallas County and has distributed more than $198 million to 160 worthy beneficiaries over the past 73 years.

Media Contact: Daniel Steele, UT Dallas, 972-883-5485, daniel.steele@utdallas.edu, or the Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, newscenter@utdallas.edu.