Surgical Research
Advances in surgical techniques over the past 40 years have enabled many people to regain part or all of their hearing. WHARF has been instrumental in these advances.
The Lippy Group for Ear, Nose & Throat surgeons have performed over 30,000 major hearing operations. They have developed many of the instruments and prosthesis used in these surgeries. The group is a major international center for the ear disease otosclerosis.
The Lippy Group has led in diagnosis, education, and surgical techniques for primary and revision stapedectomy. The practice has also made major research contributions in the area of surgery of the chronically infected ear by using bone transplants and artificial prostheses.
In addition, patients with no hearing in one ear and good hearing in the other ear or patients with severe conductive hearing loss are no long being told, “We cannot help you.” A new procedure called the BAHA system includes a titanium device, which is surgically implanted in the skull behind the ear. Later a sound processor is attached to the implant. The bone of the skull acts as a pathway for sound to travel to the hearing nerve without involving the ear canal. In the case of single-sided deafness, sound is transmitted directly through the skull to the better ear. The results to the patients have been nothing short of spectacular.
Another device, the cochlear implant brings sound to deaf ears by surgically implanting electrodes in the damaged part of the inner ear to restore hearing.
These formerly deaf patients are now able to converse with others and even talk over the telephone. Also, children born deaf are able to attend school and participate in the hearing world.
The Lippy Group has been instrumental in securing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in six studies with three different cochlear implants. The Group was the first to implant children in the State of Ohio.
The Lippy Group surgeons travel all over the world helping patients, presenting research papers, and training other physicians in surgical techniques.
Medical Research
We are also able to treat some patients who have a nerve hearing loss with medications.
Patients who have an abnormal bone growth in the inner ear can often be treated to prevent hearing loss. Other patients who have a progressive nerve hearing loss are being helped with the use of medications for the immune system. Still others benefit from medication that keep the blood supply to the inner ear constant. Further research will lead to restoring hearing to deaf ears with medication or through altering.
Hearing Aid Research
Hearing aids have become much more sophisticated by utilizing the latest advances in the field of micro-electronics. Miniaturization has enabled placement of complicated circuits into hearing aids that can be worn completely within the ear canal. Patients are more satisfied because they hear better, understand better, and because hearing aids are much more cosmetic. Research into surgically implanted hearing aids, digital technology, and directional microphones to improve understanding in noise will keep advancements coming for many years. Most patients with a nerve hearing loss can now benefit from hearing aids. Through research, we hope many more will benefit in the near future.
The foundation helped to fund the Physicians Library, which addresses otosclerosis, chronic ear diseases and BAHA devices. This is an online site free for physicians learning. In the first few months after completion the site was used for study by physicians from 64 countries.
Perhaps the most important function of the Foundation is to pay for the implantable devices for patients who could not otherwise afford them.
Continued Training, Education, and Research Will Help Meet This Need.
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At tax time you are “rewarded” for giving to good causes–rewarded not just in the form of the personal satisfaction you feel and the appreciation and recognition accorded you by the recipient of your generosity, but also in the form of tax benefits.
Charitable contribution deductions on your current income tax return and the capital gains tax savings are of foremost benefit with tax time approaching. Future estate tax savings may also result from your gift.
Why should you consider giving appreciated property?
If you own stocks or other investments that have increased in value, there are good reasons for considering these assets as a charitable gift: When you sell stocks or other investments that have grown in value, you generate a capital gains tax. This means that you could pay up to 28% of your gain to the IRS. If you donate stocks or other investments that have appreciated in value, you avoid the capital gains tax. Gifts of appreciated property are deductible at their full market value if they have been held for more than a year. Gifts that have appreciated in value can become a substantial gift, at a low net cost to you. The fair market value of the appreciated property can be deducted up to 30% of your adjusted gross income and any excess deductions can be carried forward for five additional years.
Gifts of life insurance
Life insurance gifts are easy, convenient, and allow you to give more than may be possible otherwise. Your options include: Giving a paid-up or no-longer-needed policy. Purchasing a single premium policy with WHARF as the owner and beneficiary. Purchasing a new policy with WHARF as a beneficiary. Adding WHARF as a beneficiary to an existing policy.
Life income gifts
Life income gifts give you the opportunity to help WHARF in the future and enjoy immediate tax benefits in exchange for your future contributions. These benefits include:
Income tax deductions can be taken in the year of the gift and any excess deductions can be carried forward for five years. Savings can be realized from estate and inheritance taxes and probate costs on assets transferred to WHARF.
You can avoid capital gains tax when utilizing appreciated property to fund certain life income agreements.
Gifts in your will
Through your will you can give:
A percentage of your estate.
A fixed dollar amount.
Specific property such as stocks, bonds, or real estate.
Many possible charitable giving opportunities can be tailored to your personal circumstances. Your help is urgently needed to support the training, education, and research so that the lives of twenty-eight million hearing-impaired adults and children will be improved. One of those helped may be you or a family member.
Please help today and on an annual basis.
Send your contribution to the Foundation:
Warren Hearing and Research Foundation
Trust Department
Huntington Bank
108 Main Street, S.W.
Warren, Ohio 44481
(330)856-3075