GAINESVILLE – October 10th, 2022 –
The future is here, and it’s noisy.
If you’re like most people, you probably think of hearing loss as something that only affects the elderly. But the truth is that hearing loss can happen to anyone—and in our increasingly loud world, it’s more likely than ever that you or someone you know will need help with their hearing. Whether you’re born with hearing loss or you’ve spent your life listening to people mumble around you, it’s something that can make a big difference in your day-to-day life.
The First BTE Hearing Aids, hearinghealthmatters
According to the Gallaudet Research Institute, in the 60-years since the birth of modern hearing aids, we have made roughly zero progress. This is crazy considering that since hearing loss was first discovered, we’ve made huge strides in just about every other area of medicine. From cancer research to Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment, if there’s a medical need, you can bet that science has found a way to cure it or prevent it.
Hearing loss affects approximately 48 million Americans—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! The World Health Organization estimates that there are 360 million people worldwide who suffer from some degree of hearing loss. The good news is that there are ways to fix this problem. The bad news? They’re not easy.
RHI Team (2018)
That’s where RHI comes in. RHI is a team of dedicated scientists and entrepreneurs aiming to spread this awareness, cultivate a potential cure, and create therapies for hearing loss. We’re dedicated scientists who love hearing and want everyone on the planet to be able to hear their loved ones without having to strain their ears or rely on someone else’s words for understanding. We’re on a mission to spread awareness about this issue and find a cure for hearing loss as a chronic condition so that everyone can enjoy listening again!
One major example of our compassion for this field is that approximately 28.8 million US adults could benefit from using hearing aids—but unfortunately, a hearing aid is a temporary fix that loses its impact over time as your hearing worsens. We’re on a mission to change all that so that people experiencing hearing loss can hear their loved ones longer than ever before!
Not enough attention surrounds genetic hearing loss and finding a way to abate it, which is why our CEO Jim Ayala took it upon himself to become this change and start RHI from the ground up. Jim’s son, Xavier, is his inspiration for RHI, and everyday he and his team come closer and closer to solidifying therapies towards a cure. A recent quote from Dr. Hinrich Staecker on behalf of his efforts towards generating gene therapies and involvement with RHI says it all: “I’ve always been interested in hearing and interpersonal communication and throughout my training was struck by the paucity and inadequacy of treatments that we have available.”
According to the Gallaudet Research Institute, in the 60-years since the birth of modern hearing aids, we have made roughly zero progress. This is crazy considering that since hearing loss was first discovered, we’ve made huge strides in just about every other area of medicine. From cancer research to Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment, if there’s a medical need, you can bet that science has found a way to cure it or prevent it.
Hearing loss affects approximately 48 million Americans—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! The World Health Organization estimates that there are 360 million people worldwide who suffer from some degree of hearing loss. The good news is that there are ways to fix this problem. The bad news? They’re not easy.
That’s where RHI comes in. RHI is a team of dedicated scientists and entrepreneurs aiming to spread this awareness, cultivate a potential cure, and create therapies for hearing loss. We’re dedicated scientists who love hearing and want everyone on the planet to be able to hear their loved ones without having to strain their ears or rely on someone else’s words for understanding. We’re on a mission to spread awareness about this issue and find a cure for hearing loss as a chronic condition so that everyone can enjoy listening again!
One major example of our compassion for this field is that approximately 28.8 million US adults could benefit from using hearing aids—but unfortunately, a hearing aid is a temporary fix that loses its impact over time as your hearing worsens. We’re on a mission to change all that so that people experiencing hearing loss can hear their loved ones longer than ever before!
The road to developing a gene therapy will take time, but the payoff will be worth it. We may one day be able to stop hearing loss before it starts. Maybe we’ll even reverse damage already done. And when that happens, our world will truly become a louder (and better) place.