There are hundreds of hearing impaired and deaf children in Bali. The ALF has in the past funded a number of projects working with LUMINA Hearing Centre in Denpasar.  In 2010,  we made the decision to revise these programs and bring them in house under the banner Bali Hears.  Our own comprehensive hearing program is headed up by Dr Bulantrisna Djelantik, a respected ENT doctor. The programs’ objectives are to improve testing, education and availability of hearing aids to the hearing impaired throughout the island of Bali.

The projects funded to date are:

1. SOUND POUNDS Hearing Aids Project:  The SLBB (Special Needs School) School Hearing Program provides hearing testing services, and hearing aid fitting services for the children attending SLBB (Special Needs Schools for the Hearing Impaired). Children who enter the SLBB schools in Bali have rarely had a hearing test.  They are identified as ‘deaf’ because they have failed to learn to speak.  This program seeks to identify those children who have some hearing and give those children the benefit of the use of hearing aids.  BALI HEARS has set up a testing centre at the SLBB Jimbaran where anyone can come to be tested twice a week.

The SOUND POUNDS program was the brainchild of ALF Director Mark Weingard for his birthday in 2011.  He pledged to match any funds donated to the SOUND POUNDS project which would in turn provide hearing aids and maintenance to the impoverished hearing impaired. 

2. Sushrusa playgroup and Kindergarten:  The ALF funded the establishment of Bali’s only Playgroup and Kindergarten for the Hearing Impaired at LUMINA.  It's named Sushrusa, which is a Sanskrit word meaning “love to learn” and “hearing”.  During the 2009-2010 school year there were 10 students in the Playgroup and 8 in the Kindergarten with 15 graduates ready to start first grade.  The teachers here use the Total Communications Approach with individualized attention.  This approach has resulted in students that excel and even surpass their peers who are going into First Grade.  In 2010, LUMINA took over the funding and administration of this project.

3. Audiometers: The goal of this project is to identify infants born with hearing loss and begin treatment that will see them fitted appropriately with hearing aids before they reach 1 year of age.  That way they will have the best possible chance to learn to speak. The project requires the use of specialized equipment that ALF funded in 2009 and also requires ongoing program monitoring and data collection.  This project as of 2010 was taken over by LUMINA HEARING CENTRE.

4. Soundbooth at Sanglah Hospital:  In 2009, ALF funded the installation of an audiologic facility in Sanglah Hospital that provided the facilities and the equipment to enable the clinical testing of hearing.  This facility was specially designed to accommodate the testing of children and infants, as well as being appropriate for adults. 

5.  Hearing Outreach Project:  Many hearing difficulties can be treated or prevented with timely medical care. The poor rural families in remote rural locations are unable to travel to the cities to access treatment.  In Bali, there are many well trained THT Physicians who are willing to provide services to rural communities, but lack the resources to purchase supplies and to travel.  Every month, ear and hearing health services at rural health centers are organIzed in cooperation with

the Committee for Prevention and Management of Hearing Impairment (Komda PGPKT). The mobile van is donated by ALF, ENT residents and an

audiology technician examine patients at the centers and perform ear wax cleansing and hearing tests of students at nearby schools.

BaliHEARS has provided seminars for health professionals on the proper use of audiometers as well as a workshop on  “Guidance for parents of young deaf children”

In August 2011  new teaching materials for Indonesia language for primary school level were distributed to all hearing impaired schools on the island.  This is part of a

project to improve the curriculum in the SLBB.

Photo Albums

"Bali Hears" Hearing Project