(ROCKVILLE, MD - Aug. 27, 2004) In an effort to convince people worldwide to think of their hearing health as an important issue, the Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) has formed the World Council on Hearing Heath (WCHH) and invited the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), a major representer of audiologists, to be a founding member.
"ASHA is committed to the prevention of hearing loss and excited to join forces with WCHH to conduct global outreach for hearing health," said audiologist Larry Higdon, MS, CCC-A, president of ASHA.
According to WCHH, 10 percent of the world's population is affected by hearing loss. It is projected that by 2015, more than 700 million people world-wide will have some form of hearing loss. A major objective of WCHH is to establish, endorse, and promote a simple "Gold Standard for Hearing Health" and bring it to the public, in the U.S. and abroad, as a way to prioritize their hearing health - just as they do their dental and mental health.
Some of the goals of WCHH are to focus on the platforms of prevention, detection, intervention and research, with the ultimate goal to make a lifetime of hearing possible for all. As a founding member, ASHA has contributed funding to support WCHH activities and programs and will provide assistance to WCHH established projects like, the Hearing Healthy Vans program and planned Citizens Research and Hearing Health Conferences.
"We are proud to align with ASHA as one of our newest members," said Nick Laperle, chairman of the WCHH. Laperle founded Sonomax Hearing Healthcare, Inc. of Montreal, Canada, and is currently the President and COO. "As the WCHH continues to grow, we have more opportunities to increase awareness of our mission worldwide." WCHH plans to have corporations, educational and medical institutions, associations, and government agencies concerned with hearing health as members.
To educate the public on the importance of hearing health in everyday life, WCHH will launch a multi-media outreach campaign using television, radio, newspapers, the Internet, public service announcements, and corporate cause-related sponsorship programs. The culmination of WCHH's activities will be the first ever World Summit on Hearing Health, planned for 2006. The event will be a forum for global public health, medical and government leaders to join with corporate leaders and consumers to establish goals on ending hearing loss and permanently reducing the number of people affected by it.
WCHH was formed in April of 2004, and is the advocacy arm of Deafness Research Foundation (DRF), the largest and oldest private organization that funds hearing research in the world. Founded in 1958, DRF has served as the venture capital arm for hearing research, granting more than $22 million dollars for hearing research to over 1800 investigators. For membership or additional information on the World Council on Hearing Health, contact (202) 289-5850, or email: info@wchh.com. Tax-deductible contributions can be made to WCHH by going to www.wchh.com.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific and credentialing association for more than 115,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech, language and swallowing problems. More than 14,000 audiologists and hearing scientists are members of ASHA.
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