Projects to help children and adults with hearing loss and other hearing conditions
Rotarians, Rotaractors and other Rotary connections who are passionate about helping children and adults with hearing loss reach their full potential have started a number of different projects on the individual, Rotary Club, District Designated Grant or Rotary International Grant/Global Grant basis that other Rotarians may wish to join or to learn from in order to create their own hearing projects.
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Our team of Advisors can help Members design a Project, including how to prepare for funding
Dominican Republic Global Grant for a Hearing Clinic
In August 2025, Markus Hilbert, a Doctor of Audiology in Kelowna, BC, Canada, with the Kelowna Sunrise Club, District 5060 emailed “I just paid my lifetime dues with PayPal online and am happy to join! My club’s international committee has earmarked some funding for an audiology outreach, and we are trying to get in touch with some work Rotarians are doing in the Dominican Republic.” The Hearing RAG has been supporting hearing aid missions to La Romana, DR’s Good Samaritan Hospital since 2015 with Hearing RAG Audiologists, Drs. Roger and Elizabeth Fagan.

The Hearing RAG encouraged Drs. Fagans from the Portland, Maine Rotary Club to create a sustainable Rotary Hearing Clinic in the Good Samaritan Hospital with a Global Grant. It took several years and many donations, but it is being implemented in 2026. It also uses the discounted hearing aids recommended by the Hearing RAG.
Dr. Markus Hilbert visited the opening ceremony of the Rotary Hearing Clinic. It was a perfect fit! In writing the Global Grant, one way the Rotary Hearing Clinic is sustainable is by having new Hearing RAG Members be part of this project.
Children’s Health Project, Guatemala
In 2015, when Audiologist Dr. Michael Mallahan from the Mill Creek, Washington Rotary Club joined the Hearing RAG, he was introduced to low-cost hearing aids and a Spanish Audio Tech Course he used to instruct new Guatemalan health care workers to screen, diagnose, and fit hearing aids. After years of training, Rotary Club and District Grants, and individual contributions, Dr. Michael Mallahan created the Children’s Health Project, an NGO (nonprofit organization) supporting these Hearing Healthcare Specialists with audiology equipment and low-cost hearing aids to give the gift of hearing. These trained professionals cleaned impacted earwax that blocked sounds, screened infants and children for early intervention of hearing loss, and fitted hearing aids when needed for children whose parents would not be able to afford them otherwise.
Colombia Microtia Rotary Global Grant
Microtia is a condition in which a child is born with an ear or ears deformed or absent. Reconstructive surgery can restore the child's appearance and hearing.
Many children with microtia experience partial hearing loss due to malformation or absence of the middle and external ear. However, the inner ear — which is responsible for hearing — is typically unaffected and can be supported by hearing aids.
The Hearing RAG helped secure funding for the New Cali Rotary Club Colombia Microtia Global Grant by partnering with the International Rotary Club Sponsor, the Miramar-Pines (Florida) Rotary Club, which provided matching District 6990 District Designated Funds.
Dr. Michael Mallahan with the Children’s Health Project has future plans for Microtia surgery using Rotary funding in Morales, Guatemala.
Liberia Ear and Hearing Care Hearing Global Grant
In January, 2024, Don Martin from the Minnesota Ardsley Hills-Shoreview Rotary Club joined the Hearing RAG. He was working with Church Aid to bring Hearing Health Care to Liberia, working with Starkey Hearing Institute Graduates. Don was a new Rotarian who wanted some guidance on creating the Rotary Community Assessment Form, which helped create the Liberia Ear and Hearing Care Rotary Global Grant.
Over 2 years, the Hearing RAG offered guidance and funds, so in September, 2025, eight Starkey Hearing Institute Nurses in 8 Liberian hospitals received audiology equipment to screen, diagnose, and treat hearing loss. At the 2025 Calgary Rotary International Convention at the Hearing RAG booth in the House of Friendship, the Hearing RAG spread the word about helping others achieve their hearing health care goals around the Rotary World.
Florida (USA)’s Sounding Joy
Tampa, Florida Hearing RAG Rotarian, Christy Vogel knows what it means to struggle with hearing loss. Christy was diagnosed with hearing loss at 11 years old, but her mother could not afford the hearing aids she needed. She struggled with school and social connections until she was 27, when she got her first pair of hearing aids. Christy saw her cousins who struggled with hearing loss become depressed and suicidal. Christy’s passion is to help children in the Tampa Bay Area receive the gift of hearing through Rotary Club, District, and Global Grants, as well as individual contributions.
Asian Hearing Project
In Katmandú, Nepal, the Ear Care Nepal Medical Director and Ear Surgeon, with the help of Rotary funds from the Potomac-Bethesda Rotary Club and the Hearing RAG, teaches Nepalese women the importance of hearing health care. Funds are also provided for middle ear surgery affecting many school-age children.
Samoa and the Philippines
Australian Hearing RAG Audiologists, Drs. Philip and Cristy Newall’s 2 projects, one in Samoa (with the Rotary Club of Apia) and one in the Philippines (with the Rotary Club of Timog) have been implemented for many years. The smile on one of the children’s faces, hearing for the first time with Phonak power aids, is unmistakable that they are now connected to the hearing world. Other opportunities to join hearing missions in the Philippines are through working with Starkey Hearing Institute Graduates.
Guatemalan Hearing Care Organizations
Guatemalan Hearing Care Organizations with Hearing RAG members whose hearing projects received Rotary Global Grant or Rotary District funds. Halo received funds from Guatemala Rotary Clubs and Rotary District 4250 and the Hearing RAG to buy a professional ear wax removal machine. Around 8.9% to 28.4% of hearing loss cases are linked to impacted ear wax (cerumen impaction), making it the most common cause of temporary, conductive hearing loss. This blockage can cause up to a 30 dB hearing loss (comparable to wearing an earplug), but is usually fully reversible upon removal.
Fundación Sonrisas que Escuchan’d
Director, Dr. Paty Castellanos in 2015 screened only 100 high risk newborn infants for hearing loss. In 2026, with the help of 3 Rotary Global Grants over the years and other partners, now thousands of newborn infants are screened in Guatemalan public hospitals and clinics and hundreds receive needed hearing aids.