CALASA - Hearing Aids and Hearing Loss Specialists

Lic. Leyda Diaz de Rodriguez is the proprietor of CALASA in the Royal Center in Panama City. Calasa is the Spanish acronym for the Hearing, Language, and Learning Clinic, S.A. Lic. Rodriquez is a clinical audiologist, and has been working with hearing aids and hearing loss for more than 31 years. Lic. Rodriguez and Calasa are the recognized leaders in the local marketplace. In fact, they recently won a contract issued under a program administered by the Office of the First Lady to supply hearing aids to 134 underprivileged children.
The Hearing, Language, and Learning Clinic, (Calasa) S.A.

Recently, Lic. Leyda Diaz de Rodriguez delivered 134 pairs of hearing aids to underprivileged children through the Panamanian Institute for Special Abilities (Instituto Panameño de Habilitación Especial) (IPHE). The IPHE is a public school sponsored by the Panamanian government that specializes in educating children with special problems and disabilities such as hearing loss or blindness. The children were provided with Oticon Syncro digital hearing aids, a state of the art product that allows for each hearing aid to be adjusted to the hearing requirements of each patient. CALASA has exclusive distribution rights for Oticon hearing aids in Panama.


Lic. Rodriguez Demonstrates the Oticon Syncro Digital Hearing Aid's Capabilities

Julia Mora, the General Director of the IPHE, officially received the hearing aids from Lic. Rodriguez and the representatives from the China-Panama Office of Commercial Development. The China-Panama Office of Commercial Development donated the funds to pay for this program, and Mrs. Tong Xiaoying and Mr. Victor Zang attended the presentation ceremony representing the office. The donation and program was administered by the Office of the First Lady of Panama, Vivian Fernández de Torrijos.


Lic. Rodriguez Delivers the First Pair of Hearing Aids

Lic. Manuel Campos, Director of the National Secretariat for the Social Integration of People with Disabilities was on hand as the official representative of the Panamanian Government. He said a few words to the people on hand, recognizing the work of the primary contributors, and thanking the government of the Peoples Republic of China for their donation. Lic. Manuel Campos is the Former President of Inclusion Inter-Americana.


Lic. Manuel Campos, Director of the National Secretariat for the Social Integration of People with Disabilities

At the end of the ceremony, Lic. Rodriquez presented documents to Lic. Julia Mora, the General Director of the IPHE, and to Mrs. Tong Xiaoying of the China-Panama Office of Commercial Development, detailing how the donated funds were spent. CALASA provided 134 pairs of hearing aids to the students. Each student was medically screened to determine their individual requirements and needs. Molds were taken to ensure a perfect fit. Each hearing aid was delivered with eighteen replacement batteries, and all of the children will be returning regularly for follow-ups, maintenance, and to have their hearing aids re calibrated if necessary. The goal of the program was to deliver a complete package high-quality hearing aid solution to children in need, who would have been unable to obtain them in any other way.


Mrs. Tong Xiaoying, Lic. Leyda Diaz de Rodriguez, and Lic. Julia Mora

Most of the children that benefited from this program were not at the ceremony. They go directly to the Calasa clinic for their screenings, hearing tests, mold pourings, fittings, and adjustments. Several of the parents expressed their happiness and satisfaction with the program, and were especially please their children were receiving state of the art hearing aids. Some of the kids were on hand...


Some of kids receiving new hearing aids.

Lic. Rodriguez has been doing this for a long time, and she explained to me the connection between hearing, learning, and language. Being able to hear what's going on around you is critical to a child's ability to develop speech, language, and learning capabilities. CALASA works to bring all of that together, providing their patients with a comprehensive solution to fit their individual situation.

When I first started looking into questions of hearing loss in baby boomers, I contacted Dr. Francisco Tejeira, an ear, nose, and throat specialist in Panama City. He told me a lot about hearing loss, and referred me to CALASA and Lic. Rodriguez for more information.

Statistics support doctors' observations that people are suffering from hearing loss at younger ages. About 28 million Americans have hearing loss and, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), it occurs among adults of all ages. Fourteen percent of adults between 45 and 64 have hearing loss. Moreover, the percentage has grown as baby boomers have aged. Between 1971 and 1990, the number of people between the ages of 46 and 64 with hearing loss increased 26%, and the number between the ages of 18 and 44 increased 17%, according to the National Health Interview Survey.

Lic.Rodriguez explained to me that costs and prices vary according to the wants and need of each individual patient. They carry a wide variety of products, from the most economical analog hearing aids to state of the art high-end programmable digital hearing aids that can be fine-tuned and adjusted to the patients level of hearing loss.

For more information, please contact CALASA and Lic. Leyda Diaz de Rodriguez. In fact, you're most likely to speak with her son, Iván Rodríguez, who is the administrator of the clinic.

Contact Information

• Telephone: 011 (507) 215-1679
• Fax: 011 (507) 1680
• Cellular: 011 (507) 675-9449
• Office: Royal Center (Marbella) Section C, Office #345, Third Floor
• Email: calasa@cwpanama.net