Not for profit 501 (c)(3): Affordable Hearing Aid Dispensing, Speech Therapy, & Audiology
02/23/2026
Dear HEAR Center Friends,
This February, HEAR Center in Pasadena is celebrating Spread the Love of Speech—because every child deserves the chance to be heard.
Your support helps provide life-changing speech and hearing services for children and families across our community—especially when you send a therapy-friendly gift like toys, games, and developmentally appropriate tools from our Amazon Wish List that our clinicians use every day in speech therapy.
With gratitude,
HEAR Center Staff
Amazon Wish List on the Linktree in our bio.
01/29/2026
Swing for speech and hearing!
Join Sika, this year’s title sponsor, and become a sponsor of the HEAR Center’s 45th Annual Golf Tournament on May 4, 2026 at Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga. Your contribution helps drive impact and change lives for children, adults, and older adults living with hearing and speech challenges.
For more than 70 years, HEAR Center has helped people at every stage of life be part of the hearing and speaking world by offering complete and affordable hearing and speech services, regardless of their ability to pay. From toddlers just discovering their first words to older adults hoping to stay independent and connected, your support ensures they don’t miss the conversations, laughter, and everyday moments that give life meaning.
This year’s “May the Foreth Be With You” theme makes the tournament an especially memorable experience for your clients, colleagues, and friends—a chance to enjoy a fun, galactic day of golf while knowing every swing helps someone hear more clearly, speak more confidently, and live more fully.
Please consider one of the sponsorship or underwriting opportunities here to drive impact.
We are pleased to announce that the HEAR Center Board of Directors has appointed Marisol Barrios Perez, MSPA, APR as the next Executive Director of HEAR Center, effective this past Monday, January 19.
Marisol is an award-winning nonprofit executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience in fundraising, strategic communications, donor engagement, and community relations. Previously, she served as head of marketing, communications, and events and as senior director of communications and marketing for behavioral healthcare agencies, deepening her leadership experience in the human services sector. Marisol is also the founder and CEO of Mission Driven PR, where she has secured millions of dollars in public and private grants for nonprofit organizations and led multi-channel fundraising campaigns that strengthened donor engagement and brand visibility.
Marisol holds a Master of Science in Public Administration from California State University, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Loyola Marymount University. She is Accredited in Public Relations (APR) and currently serves as Immediate Past President of the Public Relations Society of America, Los Angeles Chapter (PRSA-LA), underscoring her commitment to ethical, strategic, and impact-driven communications.
This important leadership transition comes as HEAR Center continues to advance its mission: to provide complete and affordable hearing and speech services at every stage of life, ensuring that children and adults have access to the care they need to communicate, learn, and thrive. With demand for high-quality, accessible services growing, the Board is confident that Marisol’s collaborative, data-informed, trauma-informed, and mission-driven leadership will help strengthen our programs, partnerships, and financial sustainability.
In her new role, Marisol will oversee all aspects of HEAR Center’s operations, including strategic planning, program operations, fundraising, communications, and financial oversight. She is particularly skilled at translating complex services into compelling stories that inspire action and at aligning fundraising, communications, and community engagement to support program growth. Her personal experiences also give her a deep appreciation for the life-changing impact of hearing and speech services on individuals and their families.
Marisol will succeed Ellen Simon, who is retiring after 19 years as Executive Director and 43 years of dedicated service to HEAR Center. We are profoundly grateful to Ellen for her extraordinary leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment to our patients and families. Ellen will work closely with Marisol to ensure a seamless and thoughtful transition in leadership.
We value your partnership in advancing our mission as it is instrumental to our ongoing services and outreach to clients, patients, and their families. Please join us in welcoming Marisol Barrios Perez to HEAR Center. We look forward to sharing opportunities to meet Marisol in the coming months.
With gratitude,
HEAR Center Board of Directors
01/12/2026
Today's Blog is: When and Why To Teach Your Baby How To Sign
Baby sign language is a trending topic with researchers, and many parents attempt to teach hand gestures to their children to improve speech and language development.
December is now upon us, and I wanted to share with you that our annual holiday appeal is here once again!
Below is a story of a client who was helped by HEAR Center. We hope that this holiday season, you will consider giving a gift to HEAR Center.
To donate watch your mailbox, mail a check today or click the easy donate button below. Please make payable to HEAR Center and mail it to 301 E. Del Mar Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101.
Thank you all for your generous donations; you really make a difference!
Today's blog post is: Early Intervention for Hearing Loss Helps Prevent Speech Development Issues
Untreated hearing loss can have numerous negative effects, which is why early intervention is important. The Journal of Healthcare Communication estimates that between 1.5 and 3 million children have significant hearing loss that affects their development. Treating the issue early in life helps to prevent and manage these developmental delays and other potential disabilities.
Today's Blog is: Types of Professionals Who May Attend To Your Ears
There are many types of medical professionals who specialize in hearing issues and treating ear conditions. Ear-nose-throat doctors, audiologists, and audiometrists all specialize in diagnosing and treating various ear ailments. However, there are distinct differences between these professions. Here is everything you need to know about audiologists, audiometrists, and ear, nose, and throat doctors.
Today's Article is: Hard of Hearing: Improving Your Listening Experience
If you or someone you know is hard of hearing, there are other factors besides hearing loss that can make communication difficult. Some of these include:
Hard to understand communication partners
Presence of background noise
Poor lighting on speaker’s face
How can we improve communication to help the hard of hearing? Check out this
Tips for Improving Conversation in Noisy Environments for tips to improve your listening experience.
You can also watch our webinar: “Best Practices for Communicating with the Hard of Hearing” on Youtube for additional information.
Source:
American Speech‑Language‑Hearing Association. (2022). Tips for improving conversation in noisy environments. Audiology Information Series.https://www.asha.org/siteassets/ais/ais‑tips‑for‑improving‑conversation‑in‑noisy‑environments.pdf
Today's Blog post is: How to Help Your Child's Speech Development at Home
Every person uses some form of expression to communicate. Pointing at an object, using sign language and verbal speaking are all forms of communication. For children who have hearing loss, speaking properly can be frustrating and challenging. One way you can help your child is to use some language-building strategies at home.
Today's Blog is: How the HEAR Center Helps Californians Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
For those who are deaf and hard of hearing, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone. The truth is, though, that approximately 1 in 10 people in the United States live with some level of hearing loss, and diagnosis and treatment are within reach. For those in Los Angeles County, California, HEAR Center is an innovative non-profit hearing and speech clinic dedicated to their clients, their families and the community.
Today's Article is: What's the difference between over-the-counter sound amplifiers and prescribed hearing aids?
You’ve probably seen advertisements for over-the-counter (OTC) sound amplification devices (hearing helpers, sound amplifiers, personal sound amplification products, etc.) that promise better hearing in noisy, crowded environments or when watching television.
But can these devices truly replace prescription hearing aids? The truth is, these devices work best for those with normal hearing who are trying to hear better in certain situations. If you have or suspect you have hearing loss, a prescription hearing aid will perform much better
The facts about OTC sound amplification devices (Forbes)
These devices don’t compensate for hearing loss. It’s worth repeating that OTC sound amplifiers are intended for those with normal hearing; they cannot treat hearing loss. They are intended for individuals who want a boost in specific listening situations, such as sitting in the back of a classroom or dining in a noisy restaurant.
These devices amplify everything, not just speech. Prescribed hearing aids can mute or amplify certain frequencies depending on a person’s unique hearing loss. While personal sound amplifiers can increase the volume of speech, other sounds in the environment become louder as well: dogs barking, whirring fans, road construction–often making it harder to hear clearly.
These are not medical devices. Unlike hearing aids, which are regulated medical devices under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), OTC sound amplifiers are not intended for medical use. They are not a substitute for professional prescribed hearing aids.
Today's Article is: Consonant pronunciation in children
What is the average age children learn to pronounce most English consonants? Check out this graphic based on a 2018 cross-linguistic study.
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The HEAR Center was founded in 1954 by Ciwa Griffiths, Ed.D. As a dedicated teacher of the deaf, she developed the Auditory Approach: helping hearing-impaired children gain the gift of speech through early identification of hearing loss, amplification with hearing aids and training in learning to listen and speak.
Close friends of Dr. Griffiths and true believers in her vision, Glen and Margaret Bollinger gave significant funding to the HEAR Center to expand her vision. In January of 1969 they broke ground on their headquarters in Pasadena, CA.
Dr. Griffiths promoted the idea that if you place hearing aids on children identified with hearing loss at a young age, the child could had a significantly increased chance of learning to speak normally. She had studied the specialized education of deaf children in London with educators who were performing ground-breaking research. It was there that Dr. Griffiths first observed the impact of early amplification.
She vigorously and emphatically shared the truth that there are varying degrees of hearing loss and that the evaluation of hearing ability at an early age was critical to the quality of life for these children. Her advocacy for not giving up on children that others were ready to dismiss as totally deaf helped to bring about the awareness that these children could learn to listen and speak.
The application of Dr. Griffith's Auditory Approach, while initially scoffed at by the medical establishment of the time, has become standard operating procedure in hospitals across the nation. Throughout the years, the HEAR Center has become internationally recognized for its innovative and extensive testing and therapy programs.
