New resource center helps hearing-impaired youngsters and their families access leading-edge biomedical resources while providing comprehensive education and support

More than 12,000 babies are born deaf in the United States each year. Five years ago this statistic became a personal reality for events impresario and restaurateur Barton G. Weiss, whose daughter, Jadin, was born profoundly deaf.

“I wanted to give something back from what I’d learned—that there is an answer, there is a solution, and the University of Miami has it.”

Barton G. Weiss

Weiss’s search to provide his daughter with the best chance of success in a hearing world led him to one of the foremost authorities in the field, Thomas J. Balkany, the Marian and Walter Hotchkiss Chair in Otolaryngology and director of the University of Miami Ear Institute. As a result of bilateral cochlear implants performed at the University of Miami Ear Institute, today Jadin is immersed in the world of sound and speech.

Wanting to help other children and their families navigate the process of cochlear implantation, Weiss launched The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Foundation in 2008. A $5 million gift from the foundation in 2010 created The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Cochlear Implant Family Resource Center at the University of Miami Ear Institute. Staffed with an audiologist, psychologist, and auditory-verbal therapist, the center provides families—regardless of their economic background—with resources to transition deaf children to a hearing world through cochlear implant technology. The center also maintains a library of information on hearing loss and available services for children, parents, teachers, and the public.

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