Rare News Desk
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Videos by Rare
BELLEVUE, Wash. — A young woman received the gift of a lifetimeWednesday — the gift of sound.
An area foundation is looking to help dozens of others in her same situation at no cost.
“Wow that sounds so weird,” said Kristin Toti, seconds after her new hearing aid was turned on.
Our camera captured the moment Toti heard clearing for the first time in her life.
“Sounds pretty good,” she laughed. “I can hear myself talking.”
The 19-year-old college student has lived with high frequency hearing loss since birth.
She remembers being teased as a child because she wore larger hearing aids.
Incredibly, technology allows us to hear what Kristin used to hear on her own.
But the barista’s life changed one day at work.
“My customer in front of me had a newspaper and on the back their ad said, ‘Do you have a loss of hearing?’ And I’m like, ‘Can I see that really quick,’” she said.
Normally, the hearing aid she got costs $6,000.
She applied and got her’s for free.
“If somebody needs to hear better whether they can afford it or not we have help for them,” said Ann Plotnick, hearing instrument specialist for Miracle Ear.
Tests Wednesday proved the once muffled sound of paper or her boyfriend asking a question was gone.
Now she just has to get used to her new reality. “I feel very excited,” she said.
The Miracle Ear Foundation has a goal: to fit 100 children or adults in the Puget Sound area with hearing aids for free this year.
For more information call 800-234-5422 or www.miracle-earfoundation.org.
