How did this mission start?

The Audiology Team has been serving the people of Belize for approximately 20 years with the Belize Mission Project (BMP). The BMP is an annual mission trip originally conceived by a group of dentists over 30 years ago when they recognized the desperate need for dental care in the tourist town of San Pedro. Gradually, the BMP expanded to include primary care medicine, audiology, and optometry. When Dr. Edith Burns was invited to join the mission, she led the first audiology team of two people into the country for the Belize Mission Project. Over time, several more positions were added - a second audiologist, a nurse, IT support, and administrative/intake support. After serving for five years, Dr. Christine Belin is now taking on a leadership role for the team and will be joined by Dr. Tristan Lien, Dr. Katie Kim, Dr. Jenny Shokar, audiology graduate student Vanessa Lucero, registered nurse Megan Rounseville, and the amazing Miriam McCarty.

Campaign Update 11/25/2025: Thank you so much to our wonderful and generous donors this year! We were able to meet the original goal for our upcoming 2026 trip, which is amazing. We have been unsuccessful in locating a donated Noah license for the mission so we have increased the target goal in the hopes that we can purchase a Noah license to keep with the Belize Mission Project moving forward. We appreciate all of you so much!!

Audiology Team, Belize Mission Trip, January 2025

Audiology Team, Belize Mission Project, 2025

Please Note: All patients have given approval for us to share their photos.

Why is this mission important?

The country of Belize has no stable hearing healthcare - not one single audiologist lives and practices in the country. The people must travel to Mexico or Guatemala for their hearing healthcare needs. However, the 2022 Belizean income per capita was only $6,630 for the entire year, so many residents cannot afford to travel or afford costly hearing lost treatment. Children with hearing loss are often not identified until school age contributing to significant speech and language delays. The Ministry of Education’s Special Education Unit relies on us and other organizations to help them identify and differentiate the children with hearing loss from those with other special needs.

We see people of all ages in 6 full clinical service days each lasting 12+ hours from start to finish. These service days are spread across three different locations - San Ignacio, Belize City, and San Pedro. The team members each pay for their own airfare to and from Belize, their food for the entire trip, their hotel stays for non-clinical service days, and any extra activities. The team asks for donations in order to purchase and transport all of the necessary supplies for each person we care for on the trip, to cover modest hotel costs associated with clinical service days, and to cover a small amount of in-country travel between cities. The Audiology Team is 100% responsible for gathering everything that is needed for a successful trip each year and we can’t do that without help from people like you.

The January 2025 trip was an amazing success! The Audiology Team completed hearing evaluations on more than 160 people and fit over 210 hearing devices on Belizeans in need. This year, we are hoping to be able to complete hearing evaluations for 200+ people, to clean and check/adjust all previously fit hearing devices for returning patients, and to fit 150+ new hearing devices for patients in need. So, it is now time for us to ask for your support once again as we prepare to return in January 2026 to serve the gracious citizens of Belize.

What are the future plans for the team?

Our future plans include reaching out to the other organizations that serve in Belize to continue building contacts and coordination efforts. Our hope is to one day build a consortium of audiology programs in which we share information on hearing healthcare in Belize in order to provide continuity of care and services for the people in need. We have been and will continue working towards additional avenues for providing Belizeans with accessible hearing support throughout the year as needed. And, at some point, we also hope to be able to integrate some form of telehealth in order to further support the program as a whole.

Supplies Needed for Belize 2026

If you are able to provide any of these items directly, please reach out to us at HearingForBelize@gmail.com to coordinate. Thank you so much!

To be loaned or donated:
- (1) Portable immittance bridge (preferably with tympanometry, acoustic reflexes, and decay options)
- (1) Portable otoacoustic emissions device (screening or diagnostic is okay)
- (1) Portable real-ear measures (REM) system
- (1) Portable VRA system to use for hearing evaluations on young children - Donated!
To be purchased or donated:
- (1) HIMSA Noah software license - We have been unsuccessful in locating a donated license so we have increased the total goal for fundraising in order to purchase a license within the next year -- thank you for contributing!
- Programmable hearing aids (BTEs or RICs; goal of 200+ pairs) -- STILL COULD USE ABOUT 20 MORE PAIRS
- PocketTalkers (20+) - Donated!
- Supplies to provide to those we fit with hearing aids:
  - HA batteries (312, 13, 675) -- we strive to provide a one-year supply of batteries to each patient. We still need:
    - Size 675 -- STILL NEED ~2000 cells
    - Size 13 -- STILL NEED ~4000 cells
    - Size 312 -- Pending!
  - Currently in need of receivers, wax guards, and domes for the following donated RIC devices:
    - Oticon Opn and Oticon More devices
    - Phonak Venture, Phonak Belong, Phonak Marvel, and Phonak Paradise devices
    - Signia Pure PX, Signia Pure NX, and Signia Styletto X devices
    - ReSound Linx Quattro, ReSound One, and ReSound Omnia devices
  - Chargers for donated rechargeable hearing aids - STILL COULD USE MANY MORE OF THESE
  - Hearing aid cleaning brushes - Donated!

BMP Audiology Team - Hearing for Belize

Bringing hearing healthcare to Belizeans in need.

Team Members