Donation to Help Deaf Twins Hear for the First Time

By Kelsey Duckett

Kiara and Kayla are six-month-old twin-sisters, and in addition to the obvious similarities of appearance, they share something else in common — they were both born deaf.

The twins will hear their first sounds in Seal Beach Wednesday thanks to the donation of hearing aids from Orange County’s HearAid Foundation.

The disability the two girls share has been challenging for Mom, Gemila, and Dad, Raul, of Orange County — one of the most affluent counties in America, where nearly 31,000 are living with hearing loss.

Gemila and Raul can’t afford the four devices needed, and most private medical insurance doesn’t cover the cost of hearing aids, neither does MediCal or the Affordable Care Act. It will likely take an actual act of Congress to change this because to insurance companies, hearing aids are considered ‘cosmetic’ or ‘elective,’ much like plastic surgery or liposuction.

And the devices are not cheap, sometimes costing as much as $6,000 — and that’s per ear. Perhaps this explains, at least in part, why 75 to 80 percent of adults with hearing loss do not get hearing aids.

That’s where the HearAid Foundation, an Irvine-based nonprofit, comes in. The HearAid Foundation provides hearing aids and other assistance devices to those who can’t afford them, is an active part of the conversation about changing the legislation. Tanya Penn, president of the HearAid Foundation, recognizes that hearing loss is an invisible disability. Tanya and the all-volunteer board at the foundation have provided hundreds of devices at no cost, many of which to children who were given the opportunity to hear for the first time.