Hough Ear Institute

Back-to-school season is a great time to check in on your child’s hearing health. 🎒👂

Kids depend on hearing every day—for listening in class, following instructions, building language, joining conversations, and staying connected with friends.

Here are 3 things parents can do as school starts:

✅ 1. Make sure hearing screenings are up to date.
Children’s hearing can change over time. Ask your child’s school or pediatrician whether they are due for a screening.

✅ 2. Watch for signs of hearing trouble.
Turning up the volume, asking “what?” often, struggling to follow directions, seeming distracted, or having trouble in class can sometimes point to hearing concerns.

✅ 3. Pay attention after summer ear issues.
Swimming, ear infections, and lingering ear pain or fullness can sometimes affect how well a child hears. If your child has ongoing ear pain, drainage, muffled hearing, or seems to be struggling to hear after an infection, it may be time to check in with a healthcare professional.

A good school year starts with being able to hear, learn, and connect.

🎧 You built it. We listened.

Our Sounds of Summer playlist is complete! Thank you to everyone who added a song, commented with a favorite, or helped us build this soundtrack together.

Whether you’re headed to the lake, firing up the backyard grill, driving with the windows down, or just soaking up the last stretch of summer, we hope this playlist makes the season a little brighter.

Listen here: https://ow.ly/yL3r50ZmaWB

Today marks 36 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law on July 26, 1990.

The ADA was a landmark step toward a more accessible country—helping protect the rights of people with disabilities and opening doors to greater participation in workplaces, schools, public spaces, transportation, communication, and community life.

Accessibility is not just about buildings or ramps. It is also about communication, inclusion, dignity, and making sure people can fully take part in the world around them.

At Hough Ear Institute, we are passionate about this because hearing health is deeply connected to access and connection. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, living with tinnitus, or facing barriers to hearing care, accessibility can make the difference between isolation and participation.

Today, we celebrate the progress made through the ADA and recognize the work that continues to build communities where more people can communicate, connect, and belong.

🎄 Christmas in July is here!

This July 25, we’re inviting our community to give a gift that can change lives: the gift of hearing, hope, and connection.

When you support Hough Ear Institute, you help make possible work that reaches people in many ways—through hearing research, HoughAid, Tinnitus Together, humanitarian efforts, education, and global training.

Your generosity helps us continue working toward a future where more people can hear, reconnect, and enjoy the sounds of life again.

Give today: https://ow.ly/yLnr50Zm5hq

💙 224 hearts. 224 neighbors. 224 stories of reconnection.

In almost two years, HoughAid has now served 224 people across Oklahoma—providing free hearing aids to adults who need them but simply cannot afford them.

Each heart on this graphic represents a real person. Someone like Barbara. Someone like Warren. Someone reconnecting with family, friends, church, work, and community through the gift of hearing.

This impact is only possible because of our generous donors and dedicated partner audiologists across Oklahoma. Together, they are helping restore more than sound—they are helping restore connection, confidence, dignity, and quality of life.

If you or someone you know may qualify, apply at https://ow.ly/zPbv50Zm4CQ
To help more Oklahomans receive hearing aids through HoughAid, give at https://ow.ly/rbnc50Zm4Et

Get to know the HEI Team: Dr. Zachary Yokell 🔬

Dr. Yokell attended the University of Oklahoma, earning his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2013. He went on to study middle ear mechanics while pursuing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, which he completed in 2019.

Later that year, he joined Hough Ear Institute, where his work has focused on applying his experience with animal handling and electrophysiological testing to HEI’s hearing restoration studies.

His background brings together engineering, biology, and hearing science—helping move forward research that may one day lead to new ways of restoring hearing.

We’re grateful for Dr. Yokell’s expertise, precision, and dedication to HEI’s mission.

Today is World Listening Day—a reminder to slow down and notice the sounds that shape our lives.

A familiar voice. Music in the car. Birds outside. Laughter around the table. The quiet moments, too.

Listening connects us to people, places, memories, and meaning. At Hough Ear Institute, that connection is at the heart of our mission: helping restore hearing worldwide through research, teaching, and humanitarian efforts.

Today, take a moment to listen closely. What sound are you grateful for?

We’re still celebrating what an incredible day Hough Science Camp was last month! 🧪

Students spent the day exploring STEAM through hands-on activities like snap circuits, CSI fingerprinting, CO₂ production, DNA extraction, custom coaster art, hearing tests, and otoscopy.

It was exciting to watch students ask questions, try new things, and discover how science, technology, engineering, art, and math connect to the real world.

Now we want to hear from you: What experiments should we do next year? Drop your ideas in the comments!

Sponsored by: The Chickasaw Nation, E.L. and Thelma Ga***rd Foundation, Expand Energy, Jasco Giving Hope Foundation, Tyler Media, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Love's Travel Stops, Modular Services Company, and Oklahoma City Community Foundation.

This summer, we had the pleasure of hosting a wonderful high school intern, Claire Halinski, at Hough Ear Institute!

Claire is from the San Antonio area and has a strong passion for hearing research and the deaf community. During her time at HEI, she worked with Drs. Huang, Du, and Thakur to learn about basic lab science, aseptic technique, molecular biology assays, and microscopy.

She also had the opportunity to visit the Oklahoma School for the Deaf, where she practiced her ASL and learned more about the incredible work happening there.

Claire has been a joy to have around, and we are grateful for her curiosity, enthusiasm, and heart for this field. We’re excited to see where her passion for science, hearing research, and the deaf community takes her next!