Brianna Carpenter will be donning a pair of butterfly wings next month as part of her contribution to the Queensland Hear and Say Centre’s major fundraising event the Butterfly Appeal which runs throughout April. The charity’s mission of assisting children with hearing impairments and their families hits close to home for Australian Idol star Brianna, who was diagnosed with deafness in one ear at the age of six. 
The Butterfly Appeal, which is proudly sponsored by Suncorp, commences with a launch at Queen St Mall on Monday, March 31 and continues through April. By supporting the Appeal, you will be giving a child the best chance to learn to listen and speak to their full potential.
Brianna will demonstrate her singing prowess when she performs for the crowd at the Butterfly Appeal Launch, proving that despite a hearing impairment she was able to achieve her goal of becoming a talented and popular musician.
Recent research revealed a baby born with hearing loss will suffer a 20 week set-back of speech and language development even if their impairment is diagnosed at birth and early intervention commenced immediately.
Branded a ‘neurological emergency’, it goes on to prove that early detection and intense stimulation and exposure to spoken language will give your child the best chance to learn to listen and speak to their full potential.
In Brianna’s case, her mother was constantly providing the necessary stimulation. “My mother was always playing music or singing around the house. She always tells me how she would crank the music up on her Elton John or Billy Joel records when I was in the womb,” Brianna recalled.
“On top of that she was very creative and artistic, so I was always lucky to have that stimulation while growing up.”
Hear and Say Centre managing director and founder Dimity Dornan said hearing loss was the most commonly diagnosed disability in newborns, but society had the power to decimate the very significant impact of hearing loss in newborns world-wide.
“Through the combination of newborn hearing screening, modern hearing technology like digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, and specialised Auditory-Verbal education techniques, we can teach children to communicate with clear, natural speech and language,” Ms Dornan said.
The Hear and Say Centre’s role is to teach children with hearing loss to listen and speak in the normal range for their age by the time they are ready to start school and to support their families through the process, with each place in its program costing the Centre an average $10,000 per year for each child.

Major Butterfly Appeal sponsor Suncorp CEO John Mulcahy said the success of previous campaigns had funded 53 places at the Hear and Say Centres across Brisbane and Queensland.