Eliza Peters was about 10 years old when she walked into the stark room of Dr. John Leonetti’s office at Loyola Medicine in Chicago. The young athlete headed toward the big booth in the corner. The office was familiar. She had visited there many times since her parents and doctors had realized there was a problem during her kindergarten hearing and vision screening. Peters took her seat in the sound booth and waited for the test to begin.
For the first section of the test, the audiologist hooked her up to several wires and inserted earplugs. She watched through the small square window as the doctor clicked several buttons on the machine. When he was finished, he opened the door and unhooked the wires, replacing them with headphones. Peters went through the well-known routine of repeating the sounds she heard and pressing the remote in response to tones.
A few minutes later, the audiologist placed the new hearing aids in Eliza Peters ears and turned them on. Peters was anxious. She didn’t know what to expect. The third grader began to register sound. But this sound was different. It was crisp and clear. She smiled at her mother who was talking to the doctor. The sound of her voice had never sounded so clear to Peters.
“My mom was there with me. She started talking, and I could hear her,” Peters said. “That was a really cool moment because I couldn’t always hear her like that, and so everything was clear.”
Peters excitedly took in the beeps and buzzes in the rooms. She noticed the sound of the light switch when it was turned on. Her excitement bubbled over onto her mother who beamed at her daughter’s reaction. That excitement did not last long. Peters and her family were informed that their insurance would not cover the cost of the bilateral hearing aids that she needed.
“But we have really good insurance,” Ashley Peters told the audiologist. “We have Blue Cross, Blue Shield insurance.”
“Hearing aids are not covered under insurance for children,” the doctor responded.
Disappointment Sets In
Ashley was crestfallen. Hearing aids can cost between $1,000 and $6,000 per ear, depending on the child’s hearing needs. Some states mandate that health-insurance providers offer children’s hearing-aid coverage. Other plans are exempt from covering pediatric hearing aids. There is also often a separate cost for the services to manage the hearing aids. Members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community must replace hearing aids periodically due to technology updates and wear.
Ashley listened as the doctor explained that she could apply for a health-care credit card to cover the $7,500 expense. She knew that her daughter had to have hearing aids, so she went through the process of acquiring the credit. Still, the idea of children not being able to receive hearing aids during such a foundational time of learning did not sit well with her.
“I thought about it, and I thought it was just wrong. We need(ed) to do something about that,” Ashley told the Mississippi Free Press on Dec. 11, 2024.
Eliza met ESPNW reporter Sarah Spain when she was in the fifth grade. Eliza’s father arranged a meeting with Spain, who gave Eliza a tour of the Chicago studio. They started Hear the Cheers in 2012 after Spain and the Peters family teamed up for a women-led community project.
“I had told her about my hearing loss, but she didn’t know that they weren’t covered by insurance,” Peters said. “She was all in and is such a big advocate for the hearing loss community and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. She’s continued to be an amazing partner in this and advocate for me and for people like me. Especially for kids who play sports, because obviously, her job revolves around sports.”
Hear the Cheers partners with the Chicago Hearing Society to raise funds for audiology equipment and services for student-athletes. Since its inception, it has raised more than $340,000 and has provided equipment and services to more than 100 children. The program is for students 18 years old or younger who are athletes, though Peters points out that being an athlete can mean many things. Peters, a former athlete, chose the name Hear the Cheers due to her experience, but the name has become an anthem for the young members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
“I played all these different sports. I was involved in things, and then I was also a dancer. We always said that I could hear the cheers because of my hearing equipment,” she said. “Now it’s become an advocacy anthem—I would say kind of an empowering thing for our recipients to think about. They can hear the cheers. They can hear their friends. They can hear their teachers. They can hear their coaches.”
Learning to Advocate for Herself
Eliza Peters learned early to ask her teachers for help or for accommodations to help with her hearing difficulty such as sitting at the front of the room. She also taught her friends how to best interact with her by instructing them on the best side of her body to talk to her and reminding them of times when she couldn’t wear her hearing aids, like at the pool.
She recently spoke on a panel for parents of children with hearing loss who are moving into post-secondary education. There, Peters attempted to counter some of the beliefs that students with disabilities in college do not have the potential to have a full and holistic experience.
“I would say that my college experience, specifically at Ole Miss, has never been limited by my disability, and I’m really grateful for the support that the university has for students, and also that the community kind of embraces everyone.”
Peters has also guided many hearing-aids recipients through Hear the Cheers to advocate for their needs.
“She is a huge advocate and has helped other people advocate for themselves,” Ashley Peters said of her daughter. “… I think her advocacy has taught a lot of other children who have received hearing aids through us.”
In September 2024, the University of Mississippi graduate student announced her plans to expand Hear the Cheers to Oxford, Mississippi. It will be the program’s first expansion since its inception. The integrated marketing major said that although the financial piece is not yet in place, she has already begun advocacy and education. Eliza Peters has spoken to sororities and fraternities and been a guest on the Thomas Hays Mayo Lab, a campus podcast. Each time, she encourages them to speak up for themselves and help others.
“I’ve done a lot of the advocacy work, which honestly at times feels more important than the fundraising,” she said. “I mean, I would love to provide a child in Oxford with hearing equipment one day, if we can. But I know that at least I’ve done my part on the advocacy and reaching the different communities here and just making them aware of hearing loss.”
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