Boston Red Sox Help Starkey Hearing Foundation Deliver the Gift of Hearing to Boston Children and Adults in Need

BOSTON, June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With the help of the Boston Red Sox, the Starkey Hearing Foundation delivered the gift of hearing to more than 60 hearing-impaired children and adults from the Boston area today. The Starkey Hearing Foundation Boston Red Sox Hearing Mission was held at Fenway Park and included a special visit by Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein and Shortstop Jed Lowrie, who were present to witness the moment some of the patients could hear for the first time.  The Starkey Hearing Foundation is dedicated to building better lives for the hearing impaired by providing hearing instruments to those in need.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110620/NY22993-a )

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110620/NY22993-b )

The Starkey Hearing Foundation team of audiologists and volunteers conducted the hearing aid fittings for each of the recipients who ranged in age from two to 96, and hailed from Cambridge to Quincy.  

In addition to being fitted with their own custom-made, state-of-the-art hearing aid, recipients also received audio testing, a year's supply of batteries, and instruction on how to care for their new device, all courtesy of the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

"The Starkey Hearing Foundation's mission is to bring the gift of hearing to those in need that they may be able to realize their full potential," said Bill Austin, Chief Executive Officer of Starkey Laboratories and Founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. "We thank the Boston Red Sox organization, Fenway Park and our Boston mission sponsors and partners in helping us make a difference in a child's quality of life and future just by opening them up to a new world of sound."

The Starkey Hearing Foundation Boston Red Sox Hearing Mission is one of dozens of missions conducted each year by the Foundation both domestically and internationally. Hearing missions are the primary way the Starkey Hearing Foundation realizes its goal so the world may hear. In turn, the Foundation has set a target of reaching 1,000,000 individuals in need by the end of this decade.  

According to the Starkey Hearing Foundation, hearing loss is pervasive – affecting 34 million Americans – or one in 10.  Yet, with the help of a hearing device, hearing loss can often be corrected in a majority cases, giving an individual the opportunity to better connect with their family, the community and the world around them.

B-roll from this event available here: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1153545329/93c5988e14e5cca16d50038620263c3e

About The Starkey Hearing Foundation

The Starkey Hearing Foundation is striving to change the social consciousness of hearing and hearing loss prevention.  Hearing loss affects one in 10 Americans, and 70 million children worldwide, yet many do not have access to the hearing devices that can help correct that disability.  The Foundation now delivers approximately 100,000 hearing aids annually through hearing missions in countries stretching from the U.S. to Vietnam.  Since 2000, the Foundation has supplied more than 500,000 hearing aids to people in need and is striving to achieve its goal of distributing over one million free hearing aids in this decade.  In addition to giving the gift of hearing, the Foundation also works diligently to promote 'safe hearing' through two unique programs - the recently launched Listen Carefully campaign, aimed at preventing hearing loss among teens and young people; and the Sound Matters™ program, which with the help of partners such as Best Buy, the Grammy Foundation and others within the music and entertainment industry, seeks to raise social awareness of healthy hearing, prevention of hearing damage, and regular hearing check-ups.  For more information on the Starkey Hearing Foundation, visit www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.

SOURCE Starkey Hearing Foundation