Devangi Dalal, an audiologist and speech-language pathologist, has been recognized for her exceptional humanitarian efforts to provide free hearing aids to underprivileged children. As a co-founder of the Josh Foundation, she has made consistent efforts to help children with hearing impairments and spread awareness about this issue. Her foundation has distributed over a thousand hearing aids to children and successfully provided 100 percent digital hearing aids to children in 12 schools.
Dalal’s achievements in the field of audiology have been noteworthy. She became the first Indian to receive the American Academy of Audiology’s Humanitarian Award in 2012 for her work with young children who have hearing impairments. In addition to her foundation work, Dalal has authored books and directed a telefilm to create awareness about hearing impairment, as well as collected over Rs 4.5 Crore in funds to support hearing-impaired children. Recently, she was appointed as the First Advocate for Hearing Health from India by the Coalition for Global Hearing Health, working with WHO to promote public awareness about hearing health.
Dalal’s main objective is to help and support kids who have hearing issues and make them equally inclusive in society. She believes that promoting public awareness about hearing health is crucial in making the world a more kind and inclusive place. Her constant efforts and courage in accepting challenges to give a new life to people suffering from this unseen disability have made her reach an international platform. Despite her achievements, Dalal feels that her journey has just begun and there is a long way to go in changing how society views and treats hearing and speech-impaired children.
