Brooklyn College Professor Brings the Gift of Hearing To Grateful Brazilians

Dr. Shlomo Silman and his medal for humanitarian service to the Brazilian people.

December 15, 2001   Celebrating the true spirit of giving, Shlomo Silman, audiologist and Broeklundian Professor in the Department of Speech Communication Arts and Sciences at Brooklyn College, traveled this month to São Paulo, Brazil, with a bag full of hearing aids intended for many eagerly waiting hard-of-hearing recipients. They were not disappointed. Twenty people, including parents, bus drivers, students, and factory workers were fitted with a hearing aid that changed their lives in an instant. Within one day, patients’ hearing had dramatically improved.
   Some wept openly at hearing their children’s voices for the first time; others won back jobs that they had lost due to severe hearing problems. The project began early last year when Dr. Alda Christina Lopes de Carvalho Borges of the Universidade Federal de São Paulo, invited Dr. Silman to Brazil. She had heard of his pioneering work in hearing science pertaining to adult-onset auditory deprivation and brain plasticity. Upon discovering that many young Brazilians were unemployed because they were hard of hearing, Dr. Silman obtained twenty hearing aids at a reduced cost that were donated by the College’s Department of Speech Communication Arts and Sciences, along with batteries that were donated by the Brooklyn College Speech and Hearing Center.
    “People with hearing disabilities often can’t compete in society, ” commented Dr. Silman. “Now, with hearing aids, they have a new lease on life.” According to Dr. Silman, approximately 20 percent of those fitted with hearing aids in Brazil were born with a hearing loss; the rest suffered a loss as a consequence of various diseases. Among these individuals is a young mother who cried after hearing her teenage daughter’s voice for the first time. Another, Paul Hisano Afuso, was disqualified from becoming a bus driver until he received a hearing aid from Dr. Silman. He has since retaken the driving test and is back at work. Fellow São Pauloan Mantela Borges Rodriguez was fired from her job because her fellow employees had to constantly tap her on the back in order to get her attention. Thanks to Ms. Rodriguez’s new hearing aid, this is no longer necessary and she was quickly rehired.
    In recognition of the help he provided in procuring the hearing aids, and for his research into the physiological effects of hearing loss, Dr. Silman was awarded the Medal of Humanitarian Service to Brazilian People, by the Escola Paulista Medicina, the medical school of the Universidade Federal de São Paulo. The Universidade Federal de São Paulo financed the trip to Brazil. Upon his return, Dr. Silman obtained an additional twenty-seven hearing aids and batteries through his Broeklundian award and various honoraria. The hearing aids and batteries have already arrived at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo where a new group of hard-of-hearing patients will be fitted.

Sr. Paulo Afuso lost his job as a bus driver because of hearing loss. After being fitted with a hearing aid he returned to work.

Prof. Silman (right) and a few of the two dozen Sao Pauloans who have been fitted with hearing aids courtesy of the Department of Speech Communication Arts and Sciences.