Our Mission

The AllHear Foundation

Mission Statement: Someday All May Hear

History:

The International Center for Otologic Training ( ICOT ) Foundation was founded in 1995 at The Georgia Ear Institute by Dr. M. Miles Goldsmith, Dr Malcolm D. Graham, and Dr William F. House. Originally, ICOT had two broad missions centered upon the developing world. The first was to formally educate developing world otologists in our temporal bone laboratory at The Georgia Ear Institute in Savannah, Georgia, as well as in formal courses abroad, in collaboration with other neurotologists in the USA and from around the world. The second ICOT mission related to the research, development, and education relating to more affordable hearing solutions for the vast global deaf population who cannot afford the expensive technologies of the industrialized world.

Recently, one of our beloved founding ICOT members and the "Father of Neurotology," William F House, passed away in 2012. We at ICOT will forever remember his relentless dedication to our missions as he never missed an ICOT course. He travelled internationally under our banner, teaching countless eager minds on the merits of his cochlear implant philosophy. "Dr. Bill" strived for a simple and safe cochlear implant for those in need, but who could not afford. His cochlear implant, the AllHear device, had great value and merit in the developing world, but it ultimately did not succeed in the academic arenas and industrialized commercial markets. We have not given up on the concept of an affordable cochlear implant, and efforts are still underway to achieve this, our Holy Grail.

In honor of Bill House and his efforts to develop the AllHear device, we recently decided to rename the ICOT Foundation to The AllHear Foundation. In so doing, we have broadened our mission statement to include the provision of free hearing aids to deaf people in the developing world. The AllHear Foundation proudly sponsors these hearing aid missions to the developing world with the hope that Someday All May Hear.