Ten years ago, Gianna Caruso received Phonak Lyric hearing aids, and through her foundation, she is helping others in the deaf or hard-of-hearing community. (photo courtesy of Gianna Caruso)

Gianna Caruso has been an advocate for the deaf or hard-of-hearing community for almost her entire life. When she was a young girl, Caruso was diagnosed with a genetic condition that causes permanent hearing loss. On May 14, 2014, Caruso received Phonak Lyric hearing aids, which greatly changed the course of her life.

The entrepreneur, co-founder of the clothing brand GIGI C, has continued to work for the hearing loss community through a variety of organizations, including Let CA Kids Hear Coalition and University of Southern California’s Caruso Family Center for Childhood Communication.

“I was raised in a family where we were always taught to give back, and I’m so glad that I’m able to do that,” she said.

On May 14, the 10th anniversary of Caruso receiving her hearing aids, she launched her own foundation, Hear With You, which is dedicated to lifting up the deaf or hard-of-hearing community by providing resources, education, treatment opportunities and community events.

“The statistic is that 90% of children that are born deaf or hard-of-hearing are born to parents who have normal hearing,” Caruso explained. “These parents are terrified and they don’t have the resources. They don’t know what to do. I know my parents were worried, and they just wanted to make sure that they gave me everything I needed to be able to thrive and to live a normal life. And so, I want to make sure that I can connect with those parents and give them the resources that they need.”

Caruso said she called the organization “Hear With You” because the nonprofit is literally “here” with families and individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing “every step of the way.”

“[We will be] working in lower income communities to make sure that children are getting hearing screenings and getting set up with hearing aids as soon as possible,” she said. “It’s really important that you get children hearing aids as young as you can because that’s part of their whole brain development. And it will just make it easier for them later on in life.”

The nonprofit also seeks to raise awareness to the general population and advocate for hearing screenings as a routine practice with health care providers. She said that managing hearing health is important, pointing out that people regularly attend loud concerts and blast music through their earphones.

“We’re all at risk for developing hearing loss from all that loud noise and music,” Caruso said. “You can protect your hearing.”

She said that making the world more accessible for the hearing loss community is also among her foundation’s goals.

“There’s so much that you can do even if you don’t have hearing loss. [You can] become aware of the community, you can help someone in the office who has hearing loss [by] pointing to certain things, using captions on Zoom, being more expressive [and] not turning your back towards them,” Caruso said.

Gianna Caruso shows her Phonak Lyric hearing aids. (photo courtesy of Gianna Caruso)

More than anything, she related that she was excited to give people a community that she didn’t have growing up.

“I felt very isolated and alone [as a child],” Caruso recalled. “I didn’t have anyone that was going through something similar to me that I could talk to or ask questions. So, the foundation is really exciting for me, because now I have people I can talk to, and [we] can learn so much about other people’s stories.”

Visit hearwithyou.org for information on how to volunteer, donate and help the hearing loss community.