Hearing care centre mingles with the stars!
What brings Annie Lennox, Mick Jagger and Amy Winehouse under one roof? Answer, the Hear the World Ambassadors photography exhibition by Phonak in cooperation with musician and photographer Bryan Adams, which is being sponsored by Suffolk’s only award winning hearing care specialists.
The Hearing Care Centre, as part of the Association of Independent Hearing Healthcare Professionals network (AIHHP), is sponsoring the London leg of the Hear the World Ambassadors exhibition, which will be showcased at London’s Saatchi Gallery and is open free to the public from 22nd to 26th July 2009. The exhibition has previously visited New York, Berlin and Zurich.
Bryan Adams has taken a series of exclusive photographs of renowned personalities for Hear the World, a global initiative which raises awareness about the importance of hearing and the impact of hearing loss, which was launched by Phonak in 2006. As official photographer, Bryan Adams captured each of the celebrity supporters with a hand cupped behind their ear to convey conscious hearing.
Karen Finch, Managing Director of The Hearing Care Centre says: “In the UK, people struggle with hearing loss for an average of 15 years before seeking advice, despite there being many solutions available that could make a significant difference to their lives. The Hear the World initiative is addressing this problem by providing support and raising awareness about hearing loss on a global scale.”
To celebrate its involvement in the campaign and encourage people in Suffolk to have their hearing tested regularly, The Hearing Care Centre will be offering free hearing assessments throughout August 2009, at its Ipswich practice, 5 High Street, Ipswich. To book your appointment or for further information, call 01473 230330.
“I’m excited to lend my support to such an important cause,” said Adams. “As a musician, I’m naturally sympathetic to an initiative dedicated to helping people appreciate and preserve an individual’s sense of sound. I hope this exhibition helps to remind people of the tremendous value of their hearing.”
Over 800 million people worldwide, more than 16 percent of the world’s population, have hearing loss and the number is expected to increase to 1.1 billion by 2015. In the UK the number of people with hearing loss is estimated at 8.5 million, with over 70,000 people being in Suffolk alone.
“These figures are worrying enough in themselves,” says Karen Finch, who is a fully qualified hearing aid audiologist, “…but when you realise that only a third of people who would benefit from hearing aids, have them, you begin to see the size of the problem facing the hearing care professionals – and to be brutally honest, the families of those people too.”
“There is plenty of evidence that people with uncorrected hearing loss don’t have the quality of life, that of a person with normal hearing has, and there is also evidence that untreated deafness can lead to people suffering from serious social or psychological problems,” she said.
To give the global campaign a local flavour, The Hearing Care Centre launched its Hear Suffolk photography competition back in April, inviting amateur photographers (young and old) from across Suffolk to enter with pictures, which demonstrate the sounds of Suffolk that may not be heard by those with hearing loss. The BBC Look East’s Julie Reinger led a top line up of judges for the competition, with over £600.00 of prize money being won.
More information about the exhibition is available here.
